Gunners star Jack Wilshere has finally ended his long spell on the sidelines when he managed 70 minutes against QPR on Sunday, and the Englishman couldn’t be happier to be back.
Wilshere was fluid in his movement, precise with his passing and was at the centre of most of Arsenal’s chances as he looked lively after 14 months without a first team appearance.
Although the Englishman was substituted prior to Arsenal’s goal, his influence was clear to see and he will go some way to relieve the creative pressure off Cazorla, who has been burdened with being the main attacking orchestrator of late.
Wilshere told skysports after his return:
It’s great to get my first 70 minutes, especially in front of an Emirates crowd. The crowd have been great. It’s been a long journey but I’m back now and hopefully I can push on.
The Arsenal fans have always been great to me and I can just thank them and hopefully they can be great to me in the future.
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The boss spoke to me this morning and said we’ll see how you feel after 60 and to be honest I was cramping up after 60, so it was better for Theo [Walcott] to come on fresh and he made a difference when he came on.
He pushed Aaron [Ramsey] inside and let Mikel [Arteta] go further forward and thankfully we got the win. The experienced players here, like Mikel and Santi [Cazorla], they’ve been there and they helped me through it so thanks to them.
[on his slick passing and movement] That’s my game. I can’t lose that. That’s what got me here today and I need to keep doing that, keep working hard in training to get back to the level that I know I can be.
[on the result] QPR are a good team. They’re a bit unlucky to be where they are in the table. So we didn’t underestimate them and we knew, especially from their midfield and their wingers, that they were going to be strong.
It is brilliant to have the young midfielder back and it will help strengthen the Gunners side even further. His return was just what the midfield needed – some fresh ideas and flair that helped them dominate proceedings despite the narrow scoreline.
Wilshere looked decent and proved to be a real handful. His agility and precise passing was what we expect from him and hopefully he can start to add goals to his game too.
There was certainly a moment to worry when he went down after the crunching tackle that resulted in Granero’s studs taking to Wilshere’s foot, but it seems there wasn’t significant damage.
He will sit out the Capital One Cup fixture against Reading in midweek but hopefully he will be chosen to start against United next weekend. But they need to find their rhythm once more in the final third which has evaded them since the international break.
But welcome back Jack, it was great to see the youngster back in action. What are your thoughts on his performance? Feel free to comment below or under his thread in the allArsenal forum.
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