by Nia Griffiths

Arsene Wenger has commented on the different midfield rolls within the team and how, although most players want to, he simply can’t play everyone centrally.

Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – they all prefer playing centrally and claim that’s where they’re at their best. However, due to the amount of attacking midfielders at our club, the boss often has to play them out wide in favour of gifting just one the central role. Speaking about Wilshere recently, the boss admitted that this will continue to be the case for the 23-year-old.

(Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
(Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

“For me he can play in all the offensive positions – wide and central,” he said. “I have so many good creative players. If you ask all of them where they want to play, they will always tell you central. Unfortunately some of them have to go wide as well.”

I’ve no doubt that if Wenger didn’t believe Wilshere was capable of playing down the wing, he simply wouldn’t play him there. Putting him out wide shows immense trust in the midfielder’s ability and fitness, despite it probably being frustrating for the player.

He continued to praise Wilshere, saying, “He always had appetite Jack, but he was out for a long time. Already in the last two or three games of the season he has found his burst back with acceleration. Like with Alex [Oxlade-Chamberlain] that’s a big part of their game. To be very efficient they need that and that demands physically to be perfect. He’s getting close now.”

Wilshere racked up some playing time against Singapore Select XI in the Barclays Asia Trophy, even scoring a penalty to put us 2-0 up in the 4-0 win.