Arsenal are hard at work ahead of their Champions League clash against Kairat from Almaty.
Mikel Arteta’s side have already qualified for the knockout stages of the competition and are guaranteed a top-two finish in the table.
That is why the game against the Kazakhstan giants doesn’t really matter, but Arsenal will want to get back to winning ways after the defeat against Manchester United on Sunday.
It was no surprise to see players working hard in training in preparation for the game, but what shocked us was seeing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain involved with the Arsenal first team.
Would things have been different for Oxlade-Chamberlain at Arsenal had Arsene Wenger used him in midfield?
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain trains with the Arsenal first team ahead of Kairat clash
Oxlade-Chamberlain parted ways with Besiktas last summer and has been a free agent since.
The Englishman has been training with the Arsenal U21s in recent months and was even involved in a game against Manchester United in December.
The Gunners have just opened the doors to the facilities at the Sobha Realty Training Centre for their former player to keep himself fit until he finds a new club.
However, on Tuesday, Oxlade-Chamberlain was involved in first-team training and wore a kit that had T3 written on it, which is usually reserved for trialists.
Arsenal had four players missing from the training session yesterday – William Saliba, Jurrien Timber, Mikel Merino and Max Dowman.
Perhaps Oxlade-Chamberlain was just called up to fill in for the absentees, but the fact that he wore a trialist’s kit will inevitably raise questions.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Arsenal on a six-month contract – yes or no?
The Ox trained with the Arsenal first-team👀
What Mikel Arteta recently said about Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain at Arsenal
Arteta knows Oxlade-Chamberlain very well, having played with him at Arsenal for many years.
The Gunners boss has welcomed former players back to train with the club in the past – Jack Wilshere is a good example of that when he was still playing.
Chamberlain received Arteta’s blessing to use the club’s facilities for training. When asked about him, the Spaniard heaped praise.
He said in November, as per Goal: “Top. Top character. One of the best characters I’ve met in football.
“If we can help him and give him the space for him to get up to speed and have the capacity to find a club, it’s a joy. The boys will learn from it.
“I had the privilege to play with him, and if he is around, he will be a really good role model to have around the team.”
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