sport
Share icon

Share

England fans baffled by Gareth Southgate’s decision to start Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain against Slovenia

Published 18:43 5 Oct 2017 BST

Updated 18:45 5 Oct 2017 BST

JOE
England fans baffled by Gareth Southgate’s decision to start  Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain against Slovenia

Homesport

England are almost there.

A win against Slovenia at Wembley will seal their spot at next summer's World Cup in Russia, presenting them with yet another opportunity to underperform and depart a major tournament prematurely. As is always the case in the days before an England international, Three Lions fans have had plenty to bicker about regarding Gareth Southgate's squad selection for their final World Cup qualifying fixtures. For a start, the news that the England boss had promoted Tottenham youngster Harry Winks to the senior squad from the under21s earlier in the week didn't go down well with everyone. With this in mind, there's been a predictable reaction to the reports that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is expected to start the Slovenia game... Having started the season with Arsenal, The Ox made a move to Liverpool late in the transfer window. Since then, it's fair to say he's struggled to reach his peak performance levels - perhaps the best example of this coming in the League Cup defeat he and his teammates suffered at Leicester. Added to his poor form, the fact that he's hardly featured for his new club has also seen many question Southgate's decision to name him in his starting XI. https://twitter.com/lynky11/status/915977359504887808 https://twitter.com/HarseyMark/status/915986343162994689 https://twitter.com/JoshuaVisser/status/915868521191677952 https://twitter.com/Scott9M/status/915920115652337664 https://twitter.com/whatgap/status/915912321821741057 https://twitter.com/jackworth5/status/915989564447129602 https://twitter.com/Jasonwhite46/status/915982818227949569 Here's the confirmed England line-up: https://twitter.com/England/status/915995170264322049
England fans baffled by Gareth Southgate's decision to start Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain against Slovenia