What Role Should Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Play for Arsenal as Season Progresses?

There is an element of deja vu about this season for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. It feels like for each of the past few seasons, the man dubbed the Ox has been expected to kick on and cement a place as a first-team regular.

However, his potential remains largely untapped. Arsenal are still waiting for Oxlade-Chamberlain’s talent to explode.

A few years ago, he was part of a much-vaunted British core that included the likes of Jack Wilshere, Carl Jenkinson and Kieran Gibbs.

However, that particular trio have fallen by the wayside due to a combination of intense competition for places and severe injury problems. Oxlade-Chamberlain is at risk of going in the same direction.

His gifts are not in question. Ever since his emergence as a teenager at Southampton, the raw ability has been obvious. Oxlade-Chamberlain, like Everton’s Ross Barkley, is blessed with a rare combination of power and technique.

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The parallel with Barkley makes Oxlade-Chamberlain’s current problems all the more clear, however. The Everton man has made himself a first-team fixture, and he has begun producing goals and assists into the bargain.

Sixteen Premier League appearances this season have brought him six goals and five assists. Oxlade-Chamberlain’s productivity is vastly inferior, without a single goal or assist in 13 appearances.

Yes, many of those have been from the substitutes' bench, but his inability to provide a tangible end-product is baffling.

Much of it is down to confidence. Oxlade-Chamberlain’s recent cameo against Aston Villa told you much about his state of mind: When he received the ball, his head was down, he was dribbling blindly into traffic and foregoing obvious passing opportunities. He’s desperate to impress and yet lacks the conviction to do so.

The most irritating aspect of his stalled progress is that there is a huge opportunity for him to establish himself in the first XI. A spate of injuries in central midfield has forced Arsene Wenger to shift Aaron Ramsey back inside, creating a vacancy on the right flank.

With Theo Walcott now considered largely a centre-forward, Oxlade-Chamberlain ought to be in pole position to take on the role.

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Instead, he finds himself on the substitutes' bench behind Costa Rican Joel Campbell, whose Arsenal career appeared over a matter of months ago. That Campbell has overtaken him is a worrying sign for Oxlade-Chamberlain.

In some respects, a loan move would suit him best. That would afford him the regular football he may require to recapture his form.

However, Arsenal’s injury problems mean they cannot afford to let him go—yet nor can they afford to field a player woefully short of confidence without jeopardising their team’s chances of success.

The end result is that Oxlade-Chamberlain is likely to be forced to play a waiting game. Opportunities will come around, most likely in the domestic cups, and he must hope he can use those to impress Wenger. He’s now 22, and unless he kicks on soon, there’s a very real danger that the trajectory of his career will plateau.

The situation is simple for the Ox: Improve or be confined to the bench for the remainder of the season.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.