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