Arsenal: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Injury Trips Up Forward Strides

Arsenal will be without Alex Oxlade-Chamberlan at the Hawthornes, which essentially undoes all the progress the squad has been building up in that midfield.

Arsenal has been experimenting with a brand new midfield set up recently and it has been a wonderful sight to see. As I wrote about at length yesterday, without Mesut Ozil, the club has had to learn to adjust and, perhaps not surprisingly, it has been pretty easy to cope with.

As the German maestro has not been at his best this year, his role was not just a swap out. Rather than slipping someone else into the No. 10 and use it as a refracting role for all things attacking, Arsene Wenger has opted to switch his formation to a 4-3-3.

With the 4-3-3, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain flank Granit Xhaka and all three get more freedom, which in turn leads to better attacking plays, a strong, more consistent push from the back and less risk when a ball is turned over.

Plus the work rate is to die for.

Unfortunately, that entire scenario has imploded, as has the progress it showed. For, lo and behold, the Ox will be missing due to his hamstring injury and West Brom will be able to hone their stopping power on Mesut Ozil with the hopes of slowing down an attack that had been growing in confidence.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

This is a serious jolt. Just when the midfield was taking on a new look and we were learning not to rely so heavily on one guy, we now have to revert back to the old ways. Honestly, this would have probably happened anyways, as Wenger loves his tradition, but at least if he was healthy, there would be something to fight for.

The worst part about it is that, barring an outstanding showing by Ozil, in which case it would be deserved, this reversion to the 4-2-3-1 is probably going to be the new go-to as not even the Ox’s return will return the progress to where it was.

Progress is so damn hard to come by with this club that it’s incredibly frustrating that the Ox is injured. And not only does it set the squad back as the reliance on Ozil will resume again, but Oz himself, who has had such a hard time getting consistency going, will have to fight his way back into the starting XI.

Next: Arsenal's Potential Starting XI Under Max Allegri

Ideally, Wenger will stick with the 4-3-3 and push Ozil out wide. But I don’t think the odds are very good there.

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