Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

England vs Kosovo: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain insists Three Lions can beat anyone on their day

The Liverpool midfielder scored the opener in the 7-0 rout of Montenegro

Jack Rathborn
Saturday 16 November 2019 10:30 GMT
Comments
Gareth Souhgate: Emotions ran high during Sterling and Gomez clash

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain insists England can beat any team in the world on their day.

The Liverpool midfielder scored the opener in the 7-0 thrashing of Montenegro to seal the Three Lions’ place at Euro 2020.

And now Oxlade-Chamberlain has his sights set on beating the world’s best.

“Every player, except Jadon Sancho in Germany, plays in the hardest league in the world and are used to playing against the likes of Pogba or Kante – or playing with them,” Oxlade-Chamberlain said.

“As you get to later rounds of a competition you come up against the likes of those names and things get harder. You have to put in your best performances to overcome those challenges but the boys deal with at club level against top, top players – they had it in the World Cup, too.

“We have the ability to beat anyone on our day. We also have the ability to stop them beating us. I’m not too worried about the names we will come up against. We are going to have to worry about that when they are put in front of us – and only then.”

And after missing out on squads previously under Gareth Southgate, Oxlade-Chamberlain is adament he’s now here to stay and contribute.

Oxlade-Chamberlain claims England can beat anyone on their day

“It is always hard to miss out as I believe I have got the ability to be part of the squad but I spoke to the manager and I understood why he left me out,” Oxlade-Chamberlain added. “He wanted to get me back in September to show I was still part of his plans.

“Realistically at that point I wasn’t in a position to start so there was obviously that period after that where I hadn’t started too many games. It was fair. Disappointing – but fair. But I’m feeling confident now. The goal was the icing on the cake. I am getting there.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in