Chambers – Why I’m enjoying midfield role

Arsenal utility man Calum Chambers has admitted that he is pleased to be featuring from a central midfield role, admitting it is a new but exciting challenge.

With the likes of Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta and holding midfielder Francis Coquelin unavailable through injury – and Mathieu Flamini rested – the responsibility of protecting the defensive back line fell to the 20-year-old, with him more than happy to step in.

Chambers provided a commanding and technical performance in an unfamiliar role, and speaking after the 2-0 victory over Bournemouth, in which he featured from start to finish in midfield, admitted he has been training as a midfielder in preparation for the chance to feature.

It is great. I thought it was a great team performance and to be back top of the table is brilliant and we just have to keep that going.

I’m enjoying it [playing in midfield]. The past couple of weeks I have been training in midfield and I have been getting more confidence and I felt good and it was a great result and a great game.

We have bounced back. We didn’t get too down after the result at Southampton. We know we have a good side here and we just want to keep our confidence high and go into each game with belief and show how good we are.

Mesut Ozil provided his usual genius for the Gunners once again, providing an assist from a corner for Gabriel to score his first goal, before scoring himself in the second period to seal the three points.

Chambers believes that the German is ‘amazing’.

Twitter: Mesut Özil’s game by numbers vs. Bournemouth:

95% pass acc
11 crosses
8 chances created
1 assist
1 goal

Too good. https://t.co/o5gcLhamuA (@Squawka)

He is an amazing player. You can see his quality in training. It is a quality side and he is really showing how good he is and he is great to play alongside.

The ex-Southampton man then praised Petr Cech, with the Arsenal goalkeeper becoming the all-time record holder for the most number of clean sheets in Premier League history with 170, overtaking David James’ previous record of 169.

It is unbelievable. He is an amazing teammate to have. Every day he is talking to me in training and giving me advice and tips so he is a great player to train alongside.