Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 'Moping around will not help me through rehabilitation'

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has claimed that his spell on the sidelines has come at a bad time but admits that "moping around" will not help him ahead of "tough rehab".

The 24-year-old's debut campaign at Liverpool was cut short by a knee issue sustained during the first leg of the Reds' Champions League semi-final meeting with Roma.

As a result, Oxlade-Chamberlain missed out on the final of the competition as well as on a place in the England squad for the 2018 World Cup.

"It's not an ideal time for me, if I'm being honest," Oxlade-Chamberlain told the official Liverpool website.

"It's obviously been really tough to miss out at this time of the season, at a time when I was feeling so good and felt like I was really finding my feet at Liverpool.

"I felt I was playing some good stuff, I was playing with a lot of confidence and I was a really enjoying my football, so for it to all come crashing down in one moment, with one tackle, it's never great – but that's football.

"As a character I'm positive and I'm trying not to let myself get too down, obviously I've got a tough rehab ahead of me and moping around isn't going to get me through that!"

Oxlade-Chamberlain has been provisionally scheduled for a return to action in October.