3) Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Chamberlain has the most catching up to do out of the whole squad, both in a game time and maturity sense. His disruptive Arsenal career can be summed up in the Monaco game at home. He came on and produced a moment of brilliance, stunning the stadium, only to give the ball away carelessly, leading to a killer goal, and again stunning the stadium. Two sides of Chamberlain exploding with opposite results in the space of a single minute. People criticise him for losing the ball a lot, which is sometimes justified, but it’s only because out of all the players he’s the one that’s never had a chance to iron out his problems and develop. A full season can push the midfielder on. I say midfielder because it’s clear that’s where his future is. (Milan away. Bayern Home. The two best individual displays from an Arsenal player I’ve ever seen.) He really can be something special if he stays fit. He’s the player with the most talent, most of it still raw, but it’s there nevertheless. He needs to be unleashed. United in the FA Cup Quarter final was another promising show from Chamberlain, only to be withdrawn in the later stages through a niggling injury – another perfect summary of his time in Arsenal colours. If there’s an Arsenal player that needs this season more than the rest then it’s Chamberlain. It’s good he’s getting a full, hard pre-season. He really needs his break into the team.
Our star English players are all in the same boat, all are bursting with talent and haven’t been able to capitalise on it due to injury. Now that we have this English core back, each of them will be burning to take centre stage and make this season their own.