Grateful Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is on message after listening to the Podcast

 
P81 Liverpool's Raheem Sterling (R) challenges Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain during their English Premier League soccer match at Anfield in Liverpool, northern England September 2, 2012. REUTERS/Phil Noble
14 September 2012

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will forever be indebted to Southampton for their role in his development but the Arsenal winger faces his former club tomorrow determined to learn even more from his new role models.

Oxlade-Chamberlain joined the Saints academy as a seven-year-old and left last summer as the latest starlet to emerge from a youth set-up that has also produced Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale.

The 19-year-old started only six Premier League games in his first season with the Gunners yet his 26 appearances in total were enough to earn him a place in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for Euro 2012.

A lively performance against Moldova preceded a rather more peripheral role in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Ukraine which showed Oxlade-Chamberlain is not yet the finished article.

He has actually started more games for England than Arsenal this season following the arrival of Lukas Podolski, who scored in the 2-0 win at Liverpool just before the international break and is a probable starter tomorrow.

It is said that Oxlade-Chamberlain could ultimately end up as a central midfielder but for now he plays on the flanks and in Walcott and Podolski, he claims to have the right examples to follow.

Walcott, who made the same switch from the south coast six years ago, has experience of handling the pressure that comes with expectation on young shoulders while Podolski has thus far provided an object lesson in wide play.

Oxlade-Chamberlain told Standard Sport: “I feel I can learn from every player at Arsenal and every player when I come away with England. I am usually the youngest in whichever squad I’m playing and I realise I can always learn from someone.

“Lukas has got 100 caps for Germany so he’s not too bad! He has vast amounts of experience and is a pretty good player as well.

“Likewise, with Theo, every time I watch them play, I am always looking to take things from what they do.

“Theo has helped me a lot and Lukas is a great guy, too. He is happy to sit down and talk through things with me which he doesn’t have to do.”

In tandem with Per Mertesacker, Podolski has brought a resilience and composure often identified as classic German traits and Oxlade-Chamberlain believes his team-mates are looking to emulate that mental approach.

“We take every game at Arsenal step by step and Lukas is someone who knows first hand you have to work hard all the time to win,” he said. “That is a very German mentality and something everybody can benefit from.

“If you look too far into the future, you will lose sight of your aims.

“It goes without saying that when you get a good result at Anfield, you have to back it up with a good result at home, whoever that may be against otherwise it means nothing. We go out to win every game and that’ll be the case against Southampton tomorrow.”

Arsene Wenger is wary of the threat Nigel Adkins’s side pose after they narrowly lost to Manchester City and Manchester United either side of a home defeat against Wigan.

“Many teams who come up show they are not scared to play in the Premier League and they don’t just defend,” said the Arsenal manager.

“Most of the time it has paid off. They were impressive in the two games I’ve seen — the one against Man City and the one against Man United.

“In the end you wondered how Southampton lost both games, so we are on alert because we know they are a team who play with a positive attitude and can score goals.”

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