Jack's back: Arsenal cannot delay Wilshere's Premier League return any longer

Star man: Wilshere impressed yet again as Arsenal extended their Europa League winning run
Arsenal FC via Getty Images
James Benge20 October 2017

After another night in which he sprinkled stardust over the Europa League, Arsene Wenger can no longer resist calls for Jack Wilshere to move into Arsenal’s Premier League XI.

Set aside the fact that a player with Wilshere’s verticality, his willingness to commit opponents and willingness to cover ground makes him the ideal foil for Granit Xhaka and the case is still overwhelming.

Once more in Belgrade Wilshere led Arsenal from the front, setting the tone for all their best attacks with his darting runs and reviving memories of his stunning goal against Norwich four years ago as he and Olivier Giroud combined for the game's only goal.

Aside from his technical quality Wilshere displayed the leadership Arsenal so desperately need. As the stakes grew Wilshere took charge, a marked contrast from how senior players went missing at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

If nothing else Arsene Wenger must demonstrate that there is a reward for those who toil away at the Europa League coalface. Olivier Giroud in particular will soon wonder if a role predominantly confined to Europe’s second tier competition is enough to secure his place in the France World Cup squad.

Wilshere is well aware of what a bit part at Arsenal means for any international ambitions after opting for a loan spell at Bournemouth in a bid to get back into the England squad. At the inevitable injury-enduced end of that loan spell it had appeared Wilshere had been robbed of his explosive burst of pace once and for all.

Though it will take a run of Premier League games for Arsenal to offer definitive proof that he is still the player who so thrilled the Emirates it now seems that Wilshere needed all of last season simply to get back into the swing of top level football after a run of injuries that add up to two years on the sidelines.

At least in part due to the huge hype that accompanied his rise to prominence seven years ago Wilshere has become a polarising figure among both Arsenal and England supporters. But remove any preconceptions and ask yourself: if any other player was putting in the performances he is in the Europa League would he be entitled to expect further chances in the top flight?

Both Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey are reliably inconsistent. Doubts still remain over whether the latter is sufficiently disciplined to be trusted in a midfield duo, even with three centre-backs behind him.

In Pictures | Red Star Belgrade vs Arsenal | 19/10/2017

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A £34million investment, Xhaka will have to be a cornerstone for some time yet even if questions must be asked over why he cannot develop the consistency required for a deep-lying metronome.

Meanwhile Mohamed Elneny and even the oft-derided Francis Coquelin have their place in the squad, and even in the starting lineup where more solidity is required.

What that quartet cannot provide, though, is the propulsion from deep that Arsenal have so badly lacked since they lost Santi Cazorla a year ago. Though the Spaniard did so in a different way to Wilshere thanks to his ability to pass the ball accurately and swiftly off both feet both serve the same purpose: to give Wenger’s frontline the ball whilst opponents are in retreat.

Cazorla may well have played his last game for Arsenal. Since that day their midfield has lacked a spark and fizz that, of all Wenger’s squad, Wilshere comes the closest to replicating.

Speaking after the 1-0 win at Red Star Belgrade where Wilshere provided the impetus for Olivier Giroud’s winner Wenger was insistent that the 25-year-old’s chance would come soon.

“He will get a chance in the Premier League don’t worry for that,” Wenger said. “Games of that intensity will help him a lot.”

It cannot come soon enough.

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