Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: “I’ve always loved being at Arsenal”

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has explained why he is so happy to be playing his football at Arsenal, as per the club’s official website.

The former Southampton midfielder has now been at the North London club for four years and picked up his second major medal as the Gunners retained their FA Cup against Aston Villa on Saturday.

Oxlade-Chamberlain came on as a late substitute and assisted Olivier Giroud’s goal in the dying moments of the match as Arsenal ran out emphatic 4-0 winners.

And now player spoke to the club’s media platform following the FA Cup victory parade on what the win means and how the club is benefiting from having a core of young players coming up through the ranks together.

''It’s a great place to be,” he said during Sunday’s parade. “I’ve always loved being at Arsenal and the group’s always felt like a great bunch of lads.

''But where we are right now with the boys who have come in and the boys who have grown up through the club – the likes of Jack, Theo and Kieran – it really feels like a great group of lads.

''It’s a really nice place to be and everyone gets on really well. We’re all in it together. This parade is lovely and this is what winning’s all about.

''That’s what we were talking about yesterday, that we wanted to go that step further and get more success. We’re motivated to do that but I’m glad I can enjoy this moment with all my team-mates and I’m really proud of all of them.”

Saturday’s win marked Arsenal’s 12th triumph in the FA Cup and took them one win clear of Manchester United for most wins in the Cup competition. More significantly it also meant a second major trophy in successive seasons after they went nine years without lifting any silverware.

For Oxlade-Chamberlain and his team-mates they will be hoping to now kick on and add a first Premier League title since 2004 and maybe even a long elusive European crown to their list of honours in the upcoming season.

The 21-year-old however, will have a personal goal of staying injury-free as he suffered yet another interrupted campaign and made only 23 appearances in the league this season and missed most of the second half of the season through a persistent groin injury.

He scored only once and managed to create 35 chances in total and he will be hoping to get the opportunity to improve on those numbers next term.