Arsene Wenger has praised Jack Wilshere’s performance against BATE Borisov in their Europa League clash. The Gunners ran out as 4-2 victors and looked comfortable despite having many youngsters on the pitch.
There were many performances on the night that merited praise, Theo Walcott scored two goals and David Ospina made some important saves – but it was Wilshere who stood out the most.
The 25-year-old has struggled with injuries over his whole career, and lost his place within the Arsenal squad over time. But this season looks like a new dawn for the midfielder, and Wenger made a point of praising him for his performance.
“He had an outstanding first half.” Said Wenger.
“He fights until the end. He’s on his way back to his best and showed that. He’s at an age where a player normally gets to the best of his career. He’s on the way up. He’s only been stopped by a series of injuries.”
“Hopefully, I just pray, he is not hampered by any more problems and that will see him getting stronger and stronger. He’s shown again that he’s not lost his football.”
“We had a team that was a mixture of experienced players and young players and we had good cohesion and played football like I want them to play, with a good pace.”
“We maintained it for 65 minutes and then the last 20 minutes were a bit more difficult. Overall I’m very pleased with our performance.”
“BATE is a good team, has good cohesion, good technical level, works well together, and we needed a good performance to beat them.”
[Quotes via Sky Sports]