Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain happy to roll back years with winning return into evolving side

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made his England debut way back in May 2012 as a substitute in a team in which Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing and Phil Jones started, and four of whom have since retired from playing.

Steven Gerrard, Rob Green, Joleon Lescott and Scott Parker have all hung up their boots, while Adam Johnson, who also made a substitutes’ appearance against Norway, is no longer playing following his conviction for sex offences.

Only Jordan Henderson remains part of the England set-up, so no wonder Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is remarkably still only 26, considers himself a different incarnation of the player who first represented his country over seven years ago.

Oxlade-Chamberlain scored his first England goal since June 2017 in the Euro 2020 qualifying victory over Montenegro on Thursday. It was his first international start for over 18 months and he is now hoping to secure a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad for next summer’s finals, having not played in a major tournament since 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

“I have been around for a while and had a lot of injuries that have kept me out of big games and tournaments,” said Oxlade-Chamberlain.

“I think that going to Liverpool people saw that as a new start and then when I started to find my feet in midfield it was like a new Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain that people hadn't seen at Arsenal quite as consistently.

“I was coming into that form [for England] when we played Holland and Italy in the March just before I got injured. I brought that form into England and it fitted into this team, but since the injury I guess I am trying to pick up where I left off with Liverpool and with England.

“In that time as well there have been a lot of other boys who have come through – James Maddison is doing really well, Ross Barkley has been doing well, especially with England, and you have the likes of Hendo [Henderson] as well. Mason Mount has come into the fold now.

“There are different players and new dynamics, so it is nice to slot back in and keep pushing myself to keep improving and try to find something different to help this team move forward.”

Despite missing the last three international tournaments, including last summer’s World Cup because of the serious knee injury that kept him out for 366 days, Oxlade-Chamberlain believes next year's European Championships offer a once in a generation opportunity.

England will play at least three of their Euro 2020 games at Wembley and Oxlade-Chamberlain said: “The manager spoke about it after the game, he said we have at least three games [at Wembley] and, hopefully, we will go on to have more.

“It is a special occasion for any team to have home games in a big tournament, it is something we will look forward to. We will need the crowd to play their part and judging from the summer of the World Cup, where I was at home and could see what it meant to everyone and how fanatical everyone was, I am sure they will play their part and make it special.

“It is up to us to make it special for them and the whole country again, but it is something we are very fortunate to have and we have got to make the most of that.”

Southgate this week claimed that England’s midfielders must aspire to the levels set by Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kanté for France, and Jorginho for Italy, but Oxlade-Chamberlain believes the current squad have just as much ability.

“I will be honest, I haven't watched France play in a long time, but I think we have [got the players to be a top side],” said Oxlade-Chamberlain. “Every player in this team plays in the Premier League except Jadon [Sancho]. We play in the hardest league in the world and everyone is used to playing against the likes of Pogba or Kanté – or playing with them.

“We play with top players and against top players week in, week out and as you get to later rounds of a competition you come up against the likes of those names and things get harder.

“Then you have got to put in your best performances to overcome those challenges but it is something the boys deal with at club level against top, top players and they had it as well in the World Cup. I'm not too worried about the names you say or anyone we will come against. We are going to have to worry about that when they are put in front of us and only then.”