Rise of Oxlade-Chamberlain Fall of Walc

Like many other football fans around the country, I was utterly bemused when Arsene Wengers decided to replace Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for, a seriously out-of-form Andrey Arshavin. The Arsenal fans werent shy of voicing there opinions either, with chants of You dont know what youre doing! ringing around the ground. The 18 year old starlet had had a great game against the league Champions, showing sublime skill down both wings and setting up Arsenals equalising goal, taking it down beautifully with his right foot in full sprint and sliding it through to Robin Van Persie. Not five minutes later he was taken off. It isnt often Marco Estrada Jersey you see the Arsenal fans turning against Wenger so abruptly, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains Premier League career has certainly started with a bang.Indeed, Oxlade-Chamberlains ability is there for everyone Roger Clemens Jersey to see and is fast becoming a first team regular for Arsenal, but is it really much of a surprise? After all he was a prominent part of the Southampton team that finished runners-up in League 1 last season, and since being prised away from the South Coast club in the summer, for a hefty price tag of 12 million, he has grown a huge fan-base and a lot of media attention, some people are even mentioning England and The Plane.This all smacks of Dj vu to me though.8th May 2006, Sven-Gran Erik son announces his 30-player preliminary squad for the upcoming World Cup in Germany. Russell Martin Jersey To the Nations surprise a young Arsenal player, who had recently been transferred from Southampton, for a fee believed to be around 12 Million is picked. At the time Walcott hadnt even made a first team appearance and had only played 21 times for the Saints, yet he was chosen to be part of the England squad, ahead of Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe. The similarities are there for all to see. Both pacey exciting Wingers, both come from Southampton, and both ironically purchased for the same price. Although, youd think only one of them is a real hope for England and Arsenals future. With the country being dazzled by Arsenals number 15s pace, skill and technique in his first Premier League start, he is fast becoming a crowd favourite with the Emirates crowd, and with his first international hat-trick under his belt it surely wont be long till Capello and Wenger take note?What does this mean for Walcott though? Despite being only 22 he is already a senior member of the Arsenal squad Curtis Granderson Jersey yet he is yet to show any consistency to his game. After bagging an Impre sive hat trick for England against Croatia in 2010 World Cup Qualifiers, he was controversially not chosen as part of the Squad for the tournament. He has gained much praise from fellow Profe sionals and Managers, with Lionel Me si stating he was one of the most dangerous players he had ever played against when Arsenal and Barcelona met last season, yet rightly or wrongly he is often the point of criticism from many Arsenal fans.One things for sure though, Jesse Barfield Jersey if Chamberlain preforms like he did against Manchester United for the rest of the season, Walcott might be seeing the bench a bit more often.