Arsenal: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Did Something No One Else Did

Arsenal were the heavyweights in a fight against non-league Sutton United, yet only Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looked the part.

Arsenal went with a stale midfield pairing to start the match against Sutton United. It was the two former Basel men, Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny. Which signified a cautious approach, with Wenger wanting to control the game and not give anything away.

Related: 5 Things We Learned Against Sutton United

Hard to argue with that.

But it is not hard to argue with the lack of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Social media is actually pretty unified behind the No. 1 consensus pairing – Granit Xhaka and Oxlade-Chamberlain. And to see such unity behind anything Arsenal related means that there must be considerable merit in it.

Yet we are already seeing signs that Wenger has no intention of sticking with the Ox in a holding central role. He is using every possible opportunity to move him out of that position.

Which makes what happened against Sutton so important. Although Elneny started, he was removed at half time due to an injury and the Ox came on in his stead. The difference was palpable. But it was truly cemented when the Ox did something no one else did.

He actually looked the superior athlete in the match. Arsenal did not look like they were the technical or athletic superiors to Sutton very much, if at all. The hosts played tough and played tight and while they didn’t have that many chances, they didn’t let the Gunners run away with the match.

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When Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain came on, he made a run down the left hand side where he made two Sutton defenders look absolutely foolish. I mean foolish. The type of foolish some might have been expecting given the match up on paper. He turned on the burners and left them in the dust.

I was expecting that from Theo Walcott or even Lucas, but neither of the two did what Ox was able to do. The Ox was able to look the part that Arsenal was supposed to play. He was tied for the most completed dribbles on the team with Lucas and the Spaniard played twice as long.

I think that deserves serious commendation. He can only do so much with what he is given and he is doing that. He is doing everything he can to cement his place and hopefully his fiery athleticism can again remind us that he offers such a unique, late-bursting attacking option.

And keep in mind that Sutton is not the only team to fall victim to the Ox’s after-burners. He has done it against Premier League opposition as well, which is probably why Wenger only wants to play him out wide.

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With his show of domination and yet another solid outing, maybe, just maybe, Wenger will begin to think a little bit more about truly making the Ox a central midfielder.