Arsenal’s amazing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin fired the Gunners back on top of the Premiership yesterday with two goals to sink Crystal Palace that not only delighted the crowd but sent a message to England manager Roy Hodgeson as well.
The win extended Arsenal’s unbeaten run to ten games in all competitions and puts the Gunners two points clear of rivals Manchester City and Chelsea ahead of their clash at the Etihad on Monday night.
Man of the match Oxlade-Chamberlin when speaking to Sky Sports said: “It’s something I want to add to my game – more goals – so it was nice to get two today.
“It’s always an amazing feeling to score a goal and especially at a stadium like the Emirates and I’m glad I can help the team with two goals.”
He added: “It was a tough game against Palace and they made it hard for us in the first half.
“But in the second half we knew if we kept the tempo up and kept wearing them down then we’d get more opportunities and we did.”
It was the first start for the 20-year-old after having been out with a serious knee injury since August , and he certainly cannot complain about being a bit rusty after scoring the only goals of the match.
He said: “It was really nice to get a start. Obviously it was my first start since my injury on the first day of the season it was nice to get out there and in the midfield – it’s nice that the boss has faith in me there.”
Manager Arsene Wenger had nothing but praise for his match winner saying that he has an important part to play for the club.
He said: “We knew Crystal Palace are physically strong and we had to be intelligent, patient and take our chances.
“Oxlade-Chamberlain got us two great goals for us today and I’m very happy for him as he was out for four months this season and he had shown today that he can be a very important player for us.”
The Arsenal boss added: “Sometimes you have to be patient to create space and I think he used it very well when the opportunity was there and he has that kind of surge to come from deep midfield to be dangerous.
“For a young player like that he has shown that he will (keep his favoured midfield position).”
You can watch the Ox score in the video clip below.
