Oxlade-Chamberlain leads Arsenal response to Roy Keane rant

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has led Arsenal’s response to jibes from Roy Keane that his team are more interested in selfies and six-packs than winning titles.

Oxlade-Chamberlain scored the winner in Sunday’s 1-0 Community Shield victory over Chelsea and has promised, despite the coiffured hair, waxed chests and dressing room uploads to Instagram, Arsenal are deadly serious about finishing the new season as champions.

“Look, it’s a new era so what can I say? I don’t want to get into that,” said the former Southampton winger when asked to defend his team against Keane’s withering attack.

“Some people do selfies, some don’t. But we’re serious about winning trophies that’s for sure.

“We’ve been serious every single year I’ve been at this club and you can see that on the pitch and off it.

“Other people don’t see when we lose how upset we are. I can promise you we’ve always wanted to win trophies; and in the last couple of seasons we’ve won a few. This year we want to go one better.”

Doing better, of course, means winning the Premier League title; and the signs are good that Arsenal can be serious contenders having finally got over a mental hurdle that impeded them in matches against the elite.

Last season they won at Manchester City to break that mould — and now a victory over Chelsea, the first time Arsene Wenger got the better of Jose Mourinho in 14 attempts, has left the squad believing the title is within reach.

Oxlade-Chamberlain said: “Ever since I’ve been at Arsenal we’ve had numerous quality players and the squad has been very strong; but in the big games we came up a bit short and we wondered why.

“I think the mentality going into those games is definitely a big thing. Since I’ve been here we’ve steadily got better, especially last year. Now to win against a great side like Chelsea is a good sign.

“We can’t get carried away because I’m sure there will be a few fierce games against them during the season. But it’s a boost and it helps the confidence to lay down a marker.

“It gives you faith going into the next fixture against them— or anyone else up there at the top of the table.”

Arsenal’s title push has been a long time in coming — they haven’t been champions since 2004 — but Chamberlain has a long list of reasons why Republic legend Keane is mistaken in believing the Gunners are not ready to end that drought.

“We’ve all been together a good number of years, we’ve shared two consecutive FA Cup successes,” he said. “We’ve had the highs together and that always helps — and we’ve suffered some upsets as a team as well, and we’ve learned from those.

“The addition of Petr Cech will help us this year too; he’s a quality player with a lot of experience. Having that winning mentality coming into our squad, that can only be good.”

Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker claims Sunday’s win shows the squad are ready to provide the required answers to questions about their title credentials.

“We have had a great pre-season so far, and the peak was winning the Community Shield, but any significant predictions from the game is very difficult,” Mertesacker said.

“It was a good test for both teams a week before the season, everyone has to adjust a bit now.

“They (Chelsea) played a great consistent season last year, we had a great run to the end of the season, and deserved to win the FA Cup.

“It (the championship) is decided by details, and which team can maintain a good spirit, that level of focus which is vital throughout the season.

“They (Chelsea) have shown it, and we have to step up and do more than last season, so that is the question for us.

“We asked the question to ourselves and you could see we really want to compete and do the next step.”

Mertesacker believes with the addition of veteran keeper Cech Arsenal now have assembled a group of players who can last the distance.

“You can see we have a great squad, a deep squad. That means there will be some difficult questions for the manager to answer and for the team on how we can cope with the difficulties,” the German centre-back added.

“There are other teams who have also brought a lot of good players in, so it is difficult to say (what will happen in the title race).

“But we have good form, so whether we can keep that and start the season well is the key.”

Midfielder Aaron Ramsey is also confident Arsenal can take their momentum from the past couple of seasons and turn it into a serious title challenge.

“We know what we are capable of doing, have a great squad, and are just as excited as well about what this season might hold for us,” he said.

“There is always pressure to go out and win games, to win trophies, so it is nothing new to us as players.

“I am not a betting man, but we all feel confident we can go on and achieve something this year.”