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Wenger Offers Update On Oxlade-Chamberlain’s Injury

By on May 12, 2014

Arsene Wenger offered an update on the fitness of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Norwich City on Sunday afternoon.

The Ox has played just 17 minutes of football since the FA Cup semi final win over Wigan last month after aggravating a groin injury.

However, the boss has confirmed to Arsenal.com this evening that the midfielder is due to return to full training on Wednesday which means he should have a chance of being in the squad for next weeks FA Cup final at Wembley.

It’s also good news for England with Arsene saying Chamberlain is fit and available to be picked by Roy Hodgson, with the Three Lions boss due to announce his preliminary World Cup squad tomorrow.

Here’s what Arsene said:

on Oxlade-Chamberlain’s fitness…

The news is good. He should reintegrate into the squad on Wednesday in normal training.

on the Ox being available for selection for England…

He will be available for Roy [Hodgson] to pick him, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was picked.

We’ve missed The Ox’s pace in recent games so it would be great to have him as an option from the bench on Saturday. Hull are likely to defend deep and try to frustrate us, and if they reach half time at 0-0, we’re going to need something different from the bench and Chamberlain would be ideal.

Not many English players have Oxlade-Chamberlain’s versatility and pace, so he’d certainly be one of my World Cup tips as well. Hodgson is due to name his 23-man squad for this summers World Cup finals tomorrow and I’d be majorly surprised if Chamberlain wasn’t selected, despite him not being 100% fit.

He has over a month to get his fitness back up to speed and Hodgson is a huge fan of the midfielders. He started him in the opening group game against France at the 2012 European championships and has always selected him in his senior squads, so I think we’ll see The Ox playing a key role in Brazil as long as he’s fit.