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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Tom Cavilla

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain speaks out on injury theories and Liverpool playing time

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain believes Liverpool supporters may have a false perception of his injury record in recent times due to often being overlooked for first-team minutes.

The 29-year-old missed the start of this season with a hamstring issue, though featured 29 times in all competitions last season as Jurgen Klopp's side challenged for the quadruple. Oxlade-Chamberlain did not feature in the Reds' final 13 Premier League fixtures of the campaign, however, either left out of the squad or being kept on the bench.

The summer departures of Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino and injuries to Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Roberto Firmino have freed up opportunities for the former Arsenal man in the top-flight this term, having started each of the previous four fixtures.

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Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered a nasty injury during his first season at the club, ruling him out for close to a year, but he has insisted people could have misjudged his availability status in recent times.

"I'm in a good place at the minute, so I can't complain," he told BBC Sport. "To be honest, I only had the hamstring injury this season. When the game time is down, people sometimes correlate that with an injury. When, actually, over a two-year spell, I only had the hamstring but wasn't playing as much. Being fit, available and wanting to play and not playing as much as you like is obviously more tough as a footballer.

"There is a lot of competition for places so, when you do get the opportunity, it makes you that little bit more hungry to make sure you take them. I still feel like there is more in me, for sure."

Asked if his versatility has hampered his ability to make one position his own, the Portsmouth-born midfielder added: "It can go for you and against you. We had a joke the other day, what's that show? 'Today I'm going to be' [Stars in Their Eyes]. I don't know where I'm going: left, right, midfield, false nine - I'm just happy to play."

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