Injury problems for Pearce

07 October 2011 17:05

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has called on the injury-plagued England Under-21 squad to follow up Thursday night's win in Iceland with victory against Norway on Monday night.

Stuart Pearce's men maintained their flawless European Under-21 Championship qualifying campaign with a 3-0 victory in Reykjavik thanks largely to a hat-trick from Oxlade-Chamberlain. The win came at a cost though, with Nathan Delfouneso, Martyn Waghorn and Martin Kelly all sustaining injuries which have ruled them out of Monday's game in Norway.

"We want three points, nothing less," Oxlade-Chamberlain told thefa.com. "We know it will be another really hard game for us. We have to approach it in the same way we did against Iceland and I'm confident that, with the ability we have in the squad, we can beat them."

He added: "We have all got the same idea here. We want to qualify and we will do that by winning each and every game that comes our way."

Thursday night's hat-trick - Oxlade-Chamberlain's first in professional football - marked another high in the 18-year-old's career after a dazzling fortnight for club and country.

The former Southampton winger, signed for an initial £12million this summer, scored on his first start for Arsenal against Shrewsbury and then went on to become the youngest Englishman to score in the Champions League after finding the net against Olympiacos in the following fixture at the Emirates Stadium.

Capello admits he has been impressed with the flying start Oxlade-Chamberlain has made at the Gunners, but the teenager himself is keen to keep himself grounded and instead chose to laud praise on his team-mates for last night's performance.

"I was happy with the way the game went," Oxlade-Chamberlain added.

"It was my first international goal so to get it in a hat-trick - my first in professional football - is something I'm really happy with. But the most important was for the lads to win and get three more points for qualifying.

"It's a team performance. We have only conceded one goal so far so the boys at the back are doing a good job and so are the boys in midfield - the likes of Jordan Henderson and Jack Rodwell - they are playing together well. Everyone in this squad is pulling together and everyone has been top drawer."

Source: PA