Mathieu Flamini today insisted Jack Wilshere has put his smoking controversy behind him after the midfielder scored the goal to salvage a point at West Brom.
Wilshere fired home from 20-yards to keep Arsenal top of the Premier League on goals scored after a testing encounter at the Hawthorns in which Claudio Yacob had given the home side a first-half lead.
The 21-year-old started yesterday’s game despite photographs emerging on Friday appearing to show him smoking a cigarette outside a west London nightclub.
Wilshere used his Twitter account to deny he smokes but Flamini believes his team-mate’s strike was the best riposte at the end of what was undoubtedly a difficult week.
“I think Jack was focused,” said Flamini. “Things like that [the smoking pictures] can happen. He is still young. He has to keep working hard and he is learning. I don’t think it was a problem. The manager has talked to him but it is behind him now.
“Jack is a very talented player. He has a lot of quality. He plays in a great team and has everything to be successful. I think he is proving to everyone he is doing well. We are fighting for the title and he is playing every game.
“He is doing very well. Of course he will improve game after game – he is still very young. He has a lot to learn but already what he is doing is incredible. I think everyone at the club is very happy with him, the fans are very happy and I think everyone should be happy with what he is doing.”
Prior to his goal, Wilshere had endured a frustrating afternoon in which he frequently lost possession and suffered a series of heavy challenges. He was booked for a late tackle just before the interval but improved in the second half and Flamini said: “It is not that easy because when you play this kind of game, he is a very technical player so of course every time he has one or two players against him.
“So of course he gets kicked from behind or he is trying to jump on everything. Of course, it is not that easy when you are a player like him: talented, technical and trying to make the difference. So of course sometimes it is difficult to keep your calm but I think he did it well and he had the chance to score. It was important for us to find this goal and we did it.”
