Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is trying to add more goals to his game as thoughts turn to making England's Euro 2016 squad.
Oxlade-Chamberlain completed the scoring against Lithuania in England’s qualifying finale on Monday with a fierce strike into the top right-hand corner. It sealed a 3-0 victory and showed a rare flash of the 22-year-old’s opportunistic instincts.
It was the Arsenal winger’s fifth goal in 24 appearances for his country – a far better scoring ratio than he has managed at club level, which is something he is trying to remedy.
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“It is definitely something I think of,” Oxlade-Chamberlain said. “It’s something as an attacking player you have to be aware of.
“You can’t force it too much because you start to do the wrong things on the pitch if you try to force shots that are not on.
“It is definitely something I think about and work on. I watch games back and see positions, it’s more so for me getting in the right positions to score the easy goals as they say.
“There’s no easy goals but the tap-ins at the back post and stuff like that.
“That’s something I’m more conscious of. It’s definitely something I’m aware of so if I am able to get on the scoresheet like tonight it’s something I’m happy about it.”
Oxlade-Chamberlain may look to get some advice from Arsenal great Thierry Henry – "there's no better man to advise you on how to get a goal here or there" – with Euro 2016 – and a possible Premier League title race for Arsenal – on the horizon. Oxlade-Chamberlain endured a frustrating time last year as a knee injury sustained during a pre-tournament friendly against Ecuador reduced the him to a watching brief at the World Cup.
He was part of the England squad for the last European Championship in Ukraine and Poland, but he is not taking his place for granted next summer.
“That’s not for me to say,” he said. “Every time I come and try to work hard in training and when I get opportunities try to work hard and do the things the boss asks us to do.
“All I can do is keep doing that, trying to get goals, help the team going forward – that’s one of my main roles but also respecting my defensive jobs as well and helping us in that sense.
“That is something we work hard on, making sure we all defend properly right from the front.
“All I can do is keeping work hard, that’s the boss’s decision, he’ll pick whoever he thinks will get the job done and he has got a lot of choices and that’s a good thing.”
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