Chris Sutton has hailed Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for his display in an England shirt on Thursday evening, describing him as “relentless”.
The 26-year-old opened the scoring in a 7-0 rout of Montenegro at Wembley, and Sutton was suitably impressed with what he saw.
Writing in a column for the Daily Mail, he said: “He set himself with his first touch then blasted a ferocious shot into the back of the net with his second. He made driving runs from midfield and was relentless in the centre of the pitch.
“Gareth Southgate has never shied away from letting us know how highly he rates Oxlade-Chamberlain. ‘He would have been in the starting XI for the World Cup had he been fit,’ Southgate has said of the Liverpool player.
“Oxlade-Chamberlain showed why on Thursday night, while Harry Winks kept things ticking over nicely alongside him.”
OPINION
The Ox has been incredible since he made his proper comeback from injury, and with every passing game he looks more and more like an asset for both club and country. When he is on song, there are few players who can provide the same kind of threat that he does in the centre of a midfield, and his recent goalscoring exploits have illustrated perfectly just how dangerous he can be. So far in the Champions League this season, for instance, he has hit three in two starts, but it’s his all-round attacking dynamism that is really eye-catching. With an average of three shots, one key pass, and two successful dribbles per game on the continent, not to mention a Whoscored rating of 8.44, he has looked irresistible for Jurgen Klopp’s men, and he kept that impressive form ticking over with another standout display in a game that, truth be told, was never really a contest.
