NEW ARRIVAL

Arsenal only had 1 new arrival during the January transfer window but despite not having an active window compared to other clubs of the Premier League, Jack Wilshere is confident that the current squad is enough to fight for the Premier League title of the current season.

“People keep saying we need a new striker but Olivier Giroud has been great and Lukas Podolski can play there,” Wilshere said in The Sun.

“Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla have scored a few. Even I’ve got a couple! We know we can create chances and score goals. We have to work on our team shape in terms of winning the ball back and getting into better positions. The next two months are really important and if we come out of those unscathed, we will have a real chance.”

 

Last year Arsenal was pitted against Bayern Munich as they had to fight the German titans for the Champions League and despite claiming a 2-0 triumph in the 2nd leg, it wasn’t enough for Arsenal to advance into the next stages of the European tournament as they had suffered a 3-1 defeat in the first-leg.

 

For the 2nd consecutive season, Arsenal was drawn against Bayern Munich once more and having already played the first leg, the Premier League club suffered a 1-0 loss but even though they have fallen behind in the scoreboard, Wilshere stated that Arsenal have learned their mistakes from the previous year.

 

“We were a bit nervous going into the game last year. We lost to Blackburn in the FA Cup the game before. There was a lot of tension in the stadium and it was a big game.

“Once we calmed down a bit, we took the game to them a little bit. The third goal was a lucky goal and that killed us. This year we’ll be intelligent going into the game. First of all we’ll work on our defensive duty and then we’ll play.” Wilshere said.

STILL TOP

Arsenal have been able to maintain their position at the top of the table well into the New Year, which has finally sparked suggestions that they may actually be the first league title since 2004. Jack Wilshere has been a major reason towards this title tilt, as he has been in impressive form throughout this campaign. In fact, he has even been able to overshadow the club record signing Mesut Ozil on a number of occasions. He believes that this may finally be the year Arsenal end the hoodoos and win something.

The club has become a laughingstock amongst the top teams for their constant inability to win trophies, with their last major trophy coming back in 2005. Wilshere says that it is essential that the players have confidence about themselves. Even though Arsenal lead the table, it is not very significant. They lead Manchester City by just one point with Chelsea a further point behind. It is fast becoming a three horse race in the Premier league due to Liverpool dropping several points over Christmas period.

Santi Cazorla scored two goals in the weekend’s win over Fulham. The 2-0 win was sufficient to keep the points tally ticking over. It was also vital considering that City managed to win the match against Cardiff.

“We must believe. If we don’t have belief, we have no chance. We take each game as it comes, but in the back of our head we are top of the league and we want to stay top of the league. It is there for four or five teams to take, it is that tight, if anyone drops points it can change. Manchester City are very strong at home and their away form has got a lot better as well. They will be one of our main rivals, but we have to play them here still,” said Wilshere.

WILSHERE LEADS FROM FRONT

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.

 

SETBACK

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.”

 

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