Francis Coquelin.

Yet another of this season’s surprise packages.

In fact, he is quite possibly the biggest one of all given that he was farmed out ot the Championship and running down his Arsenal contract.

Where would he be now if Arsenal had suffered just on less injury?

Where would Arsenal be?

Gathering up destroyer stats and leading the way in the league despite competition from supposedly better players (certainly more expensive ones), Le Coq has been on the receiving end of glowing praise from all quarters.

Now Jack Wilshere is getting involved.

He told the matchday programme

“I’ve played with Francis in midfield since I was 15.

“I used to wind him up by saying, ‘Listen, you do all the dirty work and the tackling and then let me have the ball!’ But the thing is, he loves that side of it. He’s really good at it, he’s tenacious, the way he always goes after the ball. Not everyone has that ability to win the ball back and to be aggressive.

“I thought it was strange how he didn’t break through before because I’ve always felt that he could be the one to play in that position for us.

“I think there’s much more to come from him as well. He’s a great defensive midfielder, but going forward he was always a threat in the youth team. I think he can score goals too.”

Jack is currently sidelined with an ankle injury and although he was expected back by now it seems as though he has undergone a more significant setback than we were initially led to believe.

After revealing that the midfielder had undergone another operation to fix a screw, a procedure the club had hoped to be able to do in the summer, Arsene Wenger stated that the procedure would only delay his return by a few days.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and Wenger told the media on Friday that he couldn’t give a date on the player’s return.

While many are naturally concerned given the problems he’s suffered in the past, it’s worth remembering that this is not the ankle that caused him all those problems in the past and had Paddy McNair not hit him with a dangerous, late and unpunished tackle, he wouldn’t have had to undergo two further operations.