Top 10 Arsenal Players 2012/13 by a Gooner

8. Jack Wilshere/Tomas Rosicky

I can see two major questions being asked here – firstly, how can you have two players in one spot? And secondly, how can our darling Jack be so far down on your list? Well, I’ll start with the second of those two questions – it’s because he wasn’t actually that good this season, and he certainly wasn’t consistent.

That’s no fault of his own; it was always going to be tough for him to slip seamlessly back into a side that had changed drastically over the year and a half he’d been injured. He was enigmatic, and whilst he showed his class, our best performances came with him out of the side… coincidentally, his place was taken by Tomas Rosicky.

As with the 2011/12 season, Rosicky was used sparingly until the latter months of the season, but when he came in, it was clear to see that he hadn’t lost any of the spark that saw him win the hearts of many the previous year. His experience is vital, and his intelligence can be seen by the way he lost Jonny Evans to set up Theo Walcott for his goal against Manchester United. Wilshere now faces a crucial season, and whilst he’s got the ability to do it, it’ll be tough for him to replace Rosicky in the starting line up.

Best moment – For Wilshere, it has to be his Man of the Match performance against Swansea, where a commanding performance in the middle of the park was capped off with a late winner. Rosicky’s best moment has to be the game against West Brom at The Hawthorns, where an early goal-line clearance was followed by a brace which ultimately won us the game. After a red card for Mertesacker, Rosicky also used his experience to good effect in leading the team to victory.