Jack Wilshere has gone under the knife once more (for another ankle injury), with The Guardian reporting that he’ll miss at least three months while recovering. Surgery was successful, but Arsenal is once again without one of its most promising and capable midfield options for the foreseeable future, and there’s a great deal of understandable frustration. Since showing so much potential at a young age, Wilshere has struggled to stay active for a long enough period of uninterrupted time to make the impact he’s capable of. But Wilshere’s promise and future aside, times just became tougher for the Gunners.

So how will Arsenal replace Wilshere and stay in (or at least near) contention in the next few months? Here’s a quick look ahead. (more…)

Jack Wilshere reckons that securing three points is much more important for his team than looking beautiful on the pitch.

The Gunners have been known for playing beautiful brand of football, but, this season, quite often, they have looked sort of ugly and yesterday, it was no different either as facing Anderlecht in Europe, they somehow snatched the win from the jaws of defeat. (more…)

Former Barcelona manager Johan Cruyff has once again intensified the rivalry between Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho by saying that the former is significantly better than the current Chelsea manager. Guardiola and Mourinho have always been at loggerheads against each other with both managers being known for their different philosophies in football. Guardiola is someone who learnt his trade from Cruyff himself. During his time as the manager at Barcelona, Cruyff revolutionised the football and the club follows the path set down by him. The Dutchman is currently out of work after having recently left several clubs including Ajax after falling out.

However, Guardiola will probably have Cruyff in the highest possible esteem after the Dutchman gave him the debut at Barcelona. Guardiola went on to have an illustrious playing career during which time he also captained the Catalan club. It is not known whether playing in the Cruyff team influential Guardiola to also revolutionise football when he became the first team manager in 2008 by taking over at Barcelona. Over the next five years, he managed to take the team to incredible heights and they will probably be remembered as the best team in the history of football.

Cruyff says that Guardiola is a better manager because he tries to invent new things and revolutionise the game. “To me, it’s clear. Yes. Guardiola wants to make football better, to take his team to another level. Unlike Mourinho, he has also played in front of 100,000 fans. He makes the game the centre of attention; Mourinho only talks about his team, his qualities and his mentality. He played in the third team back then, and physically he was nothing, but he knew how to help himself with the right movement,” said Cruyff about Guardiola’s managerial skills and the reason for giving the Spaniard his debut.

The midfield position in Arsenal is being contested between talented players such as: Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and the newest arrival to the team Alexis Sanchez who usually performs as a striker but can also be deployed as a winger.

Having so many players at his disposal Arsene Wenger has given a certain type of ultimatum or warning towards Jack Wilshere as the French tactician stated that this must be the year for Jack Wilshere to stand out and hopefully steer clear away from all the series of injuries that the English midfielder has been suffering from in these past seasons.

Injuries have always troubled Jack Wilshere as it made him unable to play for the entire season of 2011-12 and during the previous season he had to miss over 6 weeks of action after sustaining a hairline fracture on his left foot.

Wilshere is now recovered from the injuries and he made an impressive performance againstManchesterCityin the match that Arsenal claimed the Community Shield title. Even though Wilshere did not make a mark on the score-sheet he was still noticed during the 68 minutes he spent on the pitch before being replaced. The English midfielder provided his teammates with sleek passes and just seemed to be comfortable throughout the entire match.

It’s a great way to start the season not only for Arsene Wenger as he added another trophy to his closet but more importantly for Jack Wilshere as the Englishman needed a match of this caliber to prepare himself for what lies ahead.

Arsene Wenger believes that this year will be huge for Jack Wilshere as he is finally recovered from the string of injuries and now it’s his time to shine and turn into one of the main figures for Arsenal.

Wenger said: “It’s an important year for Jack, very important,” Wenger said. “He is only 22, but he has enough experience to say he is not a young player any more. This is a guy who starts games and is expected to make a difference at this stage of his career. For him, the problem until now was medical, but I think he is over it. This is the first time he has not missed a session since the start of the pre-season preparations. His ankle is fine and you can see he trains without restriction’’

This statement of Arsene Wenger will serve as a way to encourage Jack Wilshere to perform at his best but at the same time it’s also a certain type of ultimatum as Wenger is well aware of the fierce competition in the midfield that is being disputed between all the skillful players that are on the squad and Wilshere has to secure his place in the starting lineup of Wenger just like everyone else.

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has revealed his admiration for former England international Paul Scholes, who he thinks is one of the best midfielders of all-time. He says that he has been getting inspirational talk from the former Manchester United man who has not retired from all forms of football. Ironically, Scholes, who recently appeared as a pundit for the Swansea vs Arsenal match, criticised Wilshere heavily for his performances in the 2-2 draw with the Welsh outfit. According to the former United midfielder, Wilshere has not made a lot of progress when he burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old.

The midfielder, now a 22-year-old, has replied that he will be taking in positive criticism from the midfielder, who he thinks is the best. He says that he would have worried about his form had come from a poor player, but since it comes from one of the best in the world, he will take this in a positive manner. Wilshere is expected to be named in the England squad for the World Cup 2014. He will be one of the important players, but after having not played a World Cup previously, it will be uncharted territory for him.

England captain Steven Gerrard has stated in the past that he expects Wilshere to one day captain the team.

“I respect him so much and I think he can make a great coach for any young player. I am a young player, he has been there and done it so I wanted to hear what he had to say. If it had come from a rubbish player, I could say ‘what are you talking about?’, but it came from Paul Scholes, so I wanted to get to the bottom of it. I hurt a bit more when he did it [though],” said Wilshere.

Arsenal are looking at the possibility of a crisis in midfield after Arsene Wenger revealed that the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, and Jack Wilshere could all miss the trip to White Hart Lane during the weekend. Arsenal will be making this trip to face archrivals Tottenham knowing that this match could not have come at a worse time for the club. They have just been knocked out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage itself, while the numerous injuries in the midfielder could be a major blow to Arsenal’s title hopes.

This has not been a good hunting ground for Arsenal in recent years. They already trail table leaders Chelsea by several points. More dropped points could mean the end of the title race for Arsenal since there are only nine matches left in the season. Ramsey, who had been one of the best players for Arsenal this campaign with 13 goals for far, has not played for the club since December. Ozil started brilliantly, but he has been in poor form over the last few weeks. Wilshere has been in and out of the team since the start. Despite this, all three players could be unavailable for the match against Tottenham.

Ramsey was expected to be back in contention, but he has now suffered a setback in his rehabilitation according to Wenger.

“We have had to defer his comeback to full training so he is not available. He is having difficulties in the final stages of his rehab. It looks to be short term. He’s [Ozil] out. I don’t know for how long but it is a hamstring injury. There are scans going on. Kallstrom joins the normal training group today and Sanogo too. I will have to decide if Kallstrom is okay to be in the squad on Sunday. I will see how he looks. It is not impossible,” said Wenger.

Jack Wilshere was at the forefront of Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Olympic Marseille in the Champions league, which helped them to secure 12 points from the group so far. Despite having so many points, Arsenal are still not through to the knockout stages. This is due to the tough nature of the group, which also sees opponents like Borussia Dortmund and Napoli fighting for the top spot. Dortmund managed to get the advantage over Napoli after getting a 3-1 win at home. The final group match will decide the clubs that will qualify to the next round.

Wilshere has said that this victory is a major boost for the club, but he is aware that the qualification round is not over yet. Arsenal will also be looking to finish top of the group, which will have a not so obvious advantage in the knockout round. The clubs that finish top of the group will have the crucial second leg at home, which could be an advantage in many cases. Arsenal go into the final match of the group against Napoli looking for just a point to qualify. Napoli are extremely strong at home despite their poor run of form at the moment.

“It’s a tough game, at home they are a very good team. They’ve got great fans. We’re not through yet. We have to regroup again. It’s a tough group but we will go again. It was strange as (anything) in the first 10 seconds. We lost the ball and they had a chance and we broke really well and got in front and got a great start,” said the midfielder. He scored two goals including the first one within a minute.

Hence, Wilshere has said that Arsenal should not allow their concentration to slip even after this fantastic result.

After having a tremendous run in all competitions in the last couple of months, Arsenal suffered a setback yesterday as they were beaten by 1-2 by the German club Borussia Dortmund in a Champions League game.

Although, Borussia is a very strong team and they were the runners-up last season but, it was believed to be hard for them to beat the Gunners on their home ground especially after the kind of form Arsene Wenger’s boys had shown this season. But, the German club came with determination and positive attitude and ended up winning comprehensively.

Because of this defeat, the Gunners have moved down a bit in the Group F points table. Now, they are at the second position. They are equalized to Borussia as far as the points are concerned, but, their goal differential is a little worse than the German club.

Arsenal had had a similar sort of setback at the start of the ongoing season too as they had suffered a 1-3 defeat against Aston Villa on their home ground, but, after that, they brought big improvements in their game and remained unbeaten for the next 12 matches.

The Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere thinks that his side should not be demoralized because of the result against Dortmund.

Talking to the reporters after the defeat against Dortmund, Wilshere said, “We have to play a couple of big matches in the next few days. So, we can’t get demoralized because of what happened today. It was a tough day for us, but, we can come back.”

Arsenal’s next game is a Premier League encounter against Crystal palace. It will be an away game for the Gunners and will be played this Saturday.

When asked about that game, Wilshere said, “Palace is a good team at home. They battle hard in every game they play. However, it’s going to be completely different from today’s match.”

It looks as if it might be all change at the top in the 2013/14 Premier League. Of course a change would be very welcome, but it isn’t making pre-season betting very easy. Fort the first time in 27 years Manchester United will begin the season without the leadership of Sir Alex Fergusson, though be assured that he will still make his influence felt even with David Moyes as the new manager. This could create new tensions which could have a knock on effect to the players and eventually the results. At third favourite to win the premiership with odds of 5/2 it might pay to wait awhile for the season to begin before placing a bet.

Perhaps this will be the season in which a surprise club wins; although Chelsea is the current favourite at 2/1, you can find odds of 40/1 on Spurs and up to 500/1 on Everton. Odds like that are certainly worth considering even if the chances of winning are not that high. Betting on a member of outliers could be a good strategy and very exciting should they prove to be competitive. With so many changes at the top this could represent an excellent opportunity, particularly if you are willing to place some casino style bets. (more…)

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has said that he cannot wait for the arrival of striker Gonzalo Higuain from Real Madrid. The club has been involved in negotiations with the Spanish giants for a number of months and it is believed that a deal is extremely close. Juventus have been one of the main competitors for his signature, but it is believed that Arsenal have convinced that the Argentine ace enough that a move to the Emirates stadium is the right one at his stage. The striker has been at Real Madrid since 2006, but he has never really been a first team regular.

The intense competition from French striker Karim Benzema and Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo has played havoc with his first team opportunities, which he believes will be detrimental to his chances of making it into the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Even though he is set to hold talks with manager Carlo Ancelotti over his importance with the team, he is likely to be sold if he cannot be convinced by the Italian. Despite having the likes of Lukas Podolski and Oliver Giroud, Arsenal found their strikeforce a little bit on the weaker side in comparison with the likes of Manchester city and Manchester United last season.

Hence, Wilshere is looking forward to the arrival of the Higuain for £ 23 million.

“You look at the type of players like Higuain we’re trying to bring in and you’ve got to be encouraged. I’ve never played against him but anyone who plays for Real Madrid and Argentina has to be quality. I think we need a few more, not to step right into the team but to add to the squad. We need our squad to be as deep as United’s and City’s. They can change their back four completely and still win,” said Wilshere.