After an encouraging first start of the season, it is clear that Jack Wilshere is an attacking midfielder now. This is a BIG problem for Arsenal.

Short term

How? How can someone playing well after so long away be a bad thing? How is watching a player slice apart a defence to shreds with both clever passing and clever running a bad thing? How is maybe, possibly, briefly seeing Jack look like Jack again, a bad thing?

Well, the short answer is that it isn’t. In games like the one against BATE Borisov on Thursday, it’s very much a good thing.

If Olivier Giroud is going to play the majority of these games as well, then the best player Arsenal have to play just behind him is Wilshere. Nobody links up with the Frenchman as well as Jack does, as his desire and ability to play those little one-twos around the box suit Wilshere’s game perfectly, and vice-versa. If he plays this well in the rest of the Europa League group games, then Arsenal will have little trouble progressing through into the knockout round.

The longer answer is a bit more complicated than that though…

Next, long-term

Long-term

Wilshere playing well in the odd game here or there is fine, but if he puts together four or five consistent performances, with no sign of the injury troubles that have haunted him for years, then it will become much harder to resist playing him more often.

And that is when the problems will start.

It’s never healthy if any player feels like he is guaranteed to start in any game, and anything that makes those who are currently in Arsenal’s starting XI feel enough pressure that they train and perform that little bit harder in order to preserve their spot, is a good thing. So if Wilshere’s performance against BATE lights a fire under the backsides of a couple of players, then that’s great. But if you were to name the players at Arsenal who could safely assume they’d be starting any game if fit and healthy, then the first two on the list would be Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Özil, the two players who play in the same position that Wilshere performed so well in.

If either of them are unavailable, then sure, a fit and healthy Wilshere would be a fine back-up to have.

But if they’re fit?

Last season, moving Alexis into the centre and playing Wilshere behind him might have been a viable option. But this season? Good luck convincing anyone that moving Alexandre Lacazette away from goal is a good thing.

He’s exactly the striker that Arsenal’s version of 3-4-2-1 needs; mobile, strong on the ball and not afraid to make the run behind the defender just in case the ball goes that way by accident. We need a significant sample size of games in which Lacazette, Alexis and Özil play together before deciding that one of them has to make way for Wilshere, and currently, the number of minutes that those three have played together stands at a big fat zero.

So it may be a while before we know if that particular trio can work together.

If, whilst those three are working out any kinks in their play, Wilshere is playing well in both the Carabao Cup and Europa League, then the pressure and temptation to try and fit him in wherever possible, just like Arsenal did with Aaron Ramsey in 2015 when they were playing him on the right wing to mixed results because of how well Santi Cazorla was making Francis Coquelin look whilst playing beside him in centre midfield, is only going to become greater and greater.

Do Arsenal need cover at centre-midfield? Absolutely! Anything that keeps Coquelin away from the field is a good thing.

But Wilshere? As a box-to-box midfielder? No.

Bournemouth tried that last year, whilst taking every precaution possible in order to protect his health, and he still broke down in April. He may still have the initial burst of acceleration to get out of high pressure situations, and he’ll always have the vision and touch required to be more than effective when trying to unlock an opposition’s defence. But to play centre-midfield in Arsenal’s 3-4-2-1 formation, you either have to be able to consistently run up and down the pitch like Ramsey or Elneny can, or be able to stick the boot into someone like Xhaka or Coquelin can.

It’s not that Wilshere can’t do either of those things, it’s that he can’t repeatedly do it.

Our old friend Cesc Fabregas is experiencing a similar fate at Chelsea.

He’s still, by far, their best passer of a ball at the club. But their system requires their midfielders to do even more defending and running than Arsenal’s, and as such, he only plays when they play with a number ten behind the striker. They limit the amount of running he has to do, precisely because they know his body can’t hold up as well as it did before.

Arsenal need to exercise the same caution with Wilshere, because putting him in a position that requires him to run and tackle any more than is absolutely necessary, would be unwise.

Next, In case of emergency

In case of emergency

When fit, Wilshere adds great depth to what is already a position of strength for Arsenal.

Having Alexis, Özil, Ramsey, Alex Iwobi and maybe Reiss Nelson at some point is more than enough cover for two spots on a team sheet. If Wilshere is also available for selection, then that’s fine. But he needs to be kept in a glass box in case for emergencies only, both for his sake and ours.

Let him work on getting his fitness back, and let Arsenal work on getting their preferred starting XI the time it needs to gel. If he’s needed because Özil or Alexis is unavailable, then play him.

But that’s it.

Arsenal need to treat this like their last chance to make Wilshere great again.

It might actually work, as long as they stay patient.

Arsenal have enough players in the squad to cover the demands of playing three games in six days like they have this week. Joe Willock was really good against BATE. Tidy in possession, not afraid of putting himself about when required. He didn’t look like an 18-year-old rookie in the slightest, which was very encouraging.

Arsenal don’t need Jack Wilshere….yet.

But at some part of the season, they probably will, and they should do everything in their power to make sure he’s able to answer the call.

Until then, let him enjoy his Thursdays.

Because at the moment, so are we.