Slovenia vs England: I play as a winger for Arsenal, a central midfielder for England, says Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

The 23-year-old says he 'enjoys' the responsibility of playing in the middle for his country

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is relishing a new role for England (Getty)

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has admitted he plays two entirely different roles for club and country with Arsenal using him as a winger and England calling upon him for central midfield duties.

The 23-year-old says he “enjoys” the responsibility of playing in the middle for his country and, with Gareth Southgate looking set to drop Wayne Rooney to the substitutes’ bench for the trip to Slovenia, he could play there in Ljubljana this week.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, the Southampton youth product said: “Given the opportunity, I do enjoy playing in central midfield and last week in training with England I was playing more centrally. I really enjoyed that.

“At the moment, the general dynamic at Arsenal is that we have got a lot of central midfielders who are more specialists in that position and out of that group of players, if you were going to put me in there, I’d be the one who stood out as someone who could play on the wing.

“I see myself more as a winger for Arsenal as a result. Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin, Granit Xhaka, who has just come in, Jack Wilshere, when he’s back, Mohamed Elneny and Aaron Ramsey, when he’s fit.

“They are all big players for us and out-and-out central midfielders, so I am more focused on playing wide and adding what I can out there for now.”