Sky Sports news pundit and former Arsenal star Charlie Nicholas says that Jack Wilshere is on his way back to becoming a first-team regular at the club.
The 25-year-old has had a torrid time with injuries over the last few years, and has been subject to only one Premier League game since the start of the 2015/16 season. He did however play the full game in Arsenal’s 1-0 League Cup victory over Doncaster on Wednesday night, and Nicholas is hopeful that the midfielder can build his way back into the starting XI once again.
Nicholas told Sky Sports: “For the first time in a long time I think the signs are swaying towards him getting first-team football again and earning a role in Arsene Wenger’s squad.”
“He won’t start against West Brom and it will probably take him a lot of time to get over his first 90 minutes, when he was probably man-of-the-match, but if if they can get 2-0 up then the crowd would certainly love to see him get 20 minutes.”
“Then on Thursday night, against BATE Borisov, I’m looking at him getting another 90, so he’s on the right track.”
“A lot of people have said he won’t get into the team because of Mesut Ozil but he doesn’t necessarily have to play there, but he’ll get opportunities in the Europa League and the Carabao Cup.”
“None of us, in all honesty, think he can get back to where he was four or five years ago because the injuries have been so severe, but if he can get close to that then he’s still worth keeping.”
“Is he a better footballer than Granit Xhaka? Yes. He’s certainly better than Mohamed Elneny and Francis Coquelin, and things are starting to fall in place for him where he’s going to get opportunities.”
“Even Tottenham fans would have to acknowledge he’s shown remarkable determination to bounce back again and he’s got too much talent for Arsenal to give up on him.”
“He went to Bournemouth to get playing time and maybe it didn’t go quite as well as he would have liked but he showed the willingness to keep trying.”
“Put it this way, I’d much rather Wilshere was on the bench than Elneny or Coquelin.”