Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Set to Retain England Spot Despite Poor Start to the Season

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is set to retain his England starting berth despite his less-than-impressive start to the season.

The Liverpool attacker is in line to play on the right wing for the Three Lions in Thursday's home encounter with Slovenia, according to the Telegraph.

England boss Gareth Southgate has given Oxlade-Chamberlain a vote of confidence following his two average displays in September's World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovakia, and in spite of him failing to make an impact so far at Anfield.

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Oxlade-Chamberlain completed a £35m switch from Arsenal in the summer but has only started once - in the 2-0 Carabao Cup loss to Leicester City - in six appearances for the Reds since his transfer to Merseyside.

That lack of form and minutes has not tempted Southgate into dropping the winger, however, and Oxlade-Chamberlain is now tipped to feature in a three - alongside Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford - behind Harry Kane at Wembley.

It was Southgate who apparently told the 24-year-old that his England chances would be greatly improved if he chose Liverpool over other interested party Chelsea - a factor which will have played a part in his eventual Gunners departure.

Oxlade-Chamberlain will be desperate to have a seat on the England plane as part of the 23-man squad for the international tournament in Russia next June, but he will need to be playing regularly for Jurgen Klopp's team then to have any hope of featuring for the Three Lions at the World Cup.

Manchester United's Jesse Lingard will look to add pressure to Oxlade-Chamberlain by pushing him for a starting role and, providing England pick up the points needed to qualify outright for the World Cup against Slovenia, will likely start against Lithuania in Vilnius next Tuesday.

Oxlade-Chamberlain has bagged six goals in 29 games for England - his last strike coming in June's 2-2 draw with Scotland.