5 things Arsenal must do to salvage their season

#3 Get Jack Wilshere back to the fold

Jack Wilshere going toe to toe with the legendary Xavi

When he burst onto the scene as a blue eyed teenager back in 2010-11, Jack Wilshere was the biggest talent to come out of English football since Wayne Rooney. Many a pundit called him the next Paul Gascoigne for he combined the typical English grit with the flair and technical abilities of a South American footballer. Fast forward seven years and Wilshere’s injury-plagued career is at crossroads with talks of him being not in Arsene Wenger’s plans for the upcoming season and potentially leaving on a free at the end of the current campaign at the expiry of his contract.

However, this story could yet have a happy ending and he could yet fulfill his destiny of being the next Tony Adams like figure for this historic club.

It is common knowledge that the last two seasons for Arsenal which started so bright only to wither away had a lot to do with Santi Cazorla’s injury issues. The Spanish maestro is the oil to the Arsenal midfield engine and also brings the best out of Mesut Ozil because of his amazing ability to pass through midfield lines, dribble his way out of tight spaces and transition the ball from defence to attack in a split second, allowing the likes of Ozil to receive the ball in dangerous areas from where they can feed the attackers with the final ball.

The biggest issue in the current Arsenal set up is the lack of a ball carrier in midfield with Xhaka being a quintessential deep lying playmaker and Coquelin/ElNeny being strictly squad players. The one player who can actually fill in that role? Jack Wilshere.

Blessed with quick feet and brilliant passing range, Wilshere has the ability to effectively fill in the huge hole left by Santi Cazorla.