Jack Wilshere is reportedly going to get his first start of the season for Bournemouth against Manchester City.

The Premier League clash, which kicks off at 3pm (UK time), takes place at the Etihad and could be the midfielder’s first start of the season, according to the Sun. Way to throw him in the deep end, eh?

If true, the news will come as welcome relief to Arsenal after the 24-year-old apparently had precautionary scans on his ankle after making an appearance in the Cherries’ 1-0 win over West Brom last weekend.

Eddie Howe has already spoken about the importance of being cautious with Wilshere given his injury-stricken past, so I doubt the Bournemouth boss would give him the nod unless he was 100% positive that he’s fit.

“With the outstanding quality he has, there’s no doubt [that we want him to start],” Howe said.

“We’d like to see him in the team as quickly as possible.

“It’s a delicate balance between rushing him into the team and the long term. We have to think of that. We want him to play a lot of games for us so we’ll put him in when we think it’s right.”

If Jack does play, I’m looking forward to seeing him finally get some proper game time under his belt and showing exactly why Arsenal fans feel as if we have so much resting on his loan spell.

If he doesn’t get to start, it’ll be a shame but at least we know his loan team are looking after him and not forcing him into games prematurely.