Gunners kid: You can’t write off Chelsea star

Saturday, September 8, 2012
10:36 AM

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain believes Frank Lampard answered many of his critics after he netted twice to spearhead England’s 5-0 thrashing of Moldova.

The Arsenal teenager is one player who represents the country’s football future. He and Manchester United’s Tom Cleverley put in impressive performances as the new blood staked a claim for regular spots.

But at 34 years old Lampard showed there’s still life in the old dog yet and Oxlade-Chamberlain was not surprised.

“You can never write him off,” the Gunners ace said. “He’s been fantastic for many many years, for Chelsea and England.

“They were two typical goals. He’s so reliable from the spot and making a late run into the box and scoring really helped us.”

The 19-year-old also praised Tottenham hitman Jermaine Defoe, whose strike put England 3-0 up before half time.

Oxlade-Chamberlain said: “Jermaine got a good goal in the first half as well. It was a brilliant finish from him and that almost killed the game off in the first half.

“From then on it was [about] just making sure we were professional enough to see it out in the second half.”

England will no doubt face a tougher test when they host Ukraine at Wembley on Tuesday, but the Arsenal ace sees no reason why they can’t carry on in the same vein.

“We’ll be working hard now to try to start well again on Tuesday and hopefully we’ll get the same sort of result,” Oxlade-Chamberlain said.