Magnificent Wilshere sends Arsenal through

Arsenal 1-0 Swansea

Jack Wilshere’s excellent performance was a joy to behold last night as the young Englishman single-handedly dominated this FA Cup tie from start to emphatic finish. Arsene Wenger’s side had been deprived of this immensely talented individual for almost 17 months as Wilshere struggled to return to full fitness due to a persistent ankle injury. Since his return however, Wilshere has simply played as though he had never been away. His great hunger and desire to win have never been in question, with Wilshere willingly putting his body on line for the sake of the team as he throws himself into tackles time and time again.

However there were concerns that having been away from the game for so long and at such an important stage in his career, Arsenal’s new number 10 would struggle to reach the high expectations which had been placed on his young shoulders during his breakthrough season with the club. Gunners fans needn’t have worried though as since his return to first team action, against Queens Park Rangers, on 27^th October, Wilshere’s game has been steadily developing and improving, culminating in last night’s master class against Swansea.

Having previously deployed him in a deeper lying central midfield role, Arsene Wenger decided to play Wilshere further up the field yesterday, just behind Olivier Giroud, a position from which the young Englishman could drive his side forward. Such was the magnitude of his performance; it could well be a position which he takes up on a more permanent basis. Arsenal fans would have been particularly impressed last night with Wilshere’s ability to carry the ball as on several occasions he simply drifted past two, three then four Swansea players, prompting the Emirates crowd to rise as one in awe and excited frenzy. His hunger, passion and desire were on display too as Wilshere showcased his never say die attitude once more, refusing to give up on any seemingly lost cause. As a result, Arsenal always looked dangerous, especially in the second half, creating 26 goal scoring opportunities overall.

Yet in the first half, Swansea’s former Gunner, Kyle Bartley, had the best chance as he repeated his feat from the first match between the two sides at the Liberty Stadium, by seeing his headed effort come back off the bar. However, Arsenal who had their fair share of half chances in the first period, completely dominated the second half and could have been ahead within five minutes of the restart, as Abou Diaby’s perfectly weighted pass sent Walcott through on goal. As the Englishman attempted to race clear, he was clearly pushed by Chico Flores but refused to go down and still managed to get his shot away. Unfortunately the ball sailed harmlessly past the far post and seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game. The Gunners continued to push forward with Cazorla and Giroud also seeing their efforts fly wide of goal before Wilshere danced past several Swansea defenders and into the box on the hour mark. His powerful shot was palmed away by Vorm but fell straight to Walcott who appeared to have the goal at his mercy. However, his prodded effort was cleared off the line by Danny Graham. Seconds later and the visitors were at it again as Leon Britton headed Giroud’s effort away from goal, while stood on the goal line.

As the game wore on Grioud was denied again as he hit a shot straight at Vorm, Walcott managed to engineer some space for himself in the box but could only fire his shot wide of goal and Sagna’s powerful effort flew over the bar. As the prospect of extra time loomed, although Arsenal continued to dominate and pour forward at will, it appeared as though this would be one of those days when the ball just would not go into the back of the net, no matter how hard they tried. This feeling was certainly not abated when with eight minutes left Walcott managed to get the faintest of touches on a cross, only to see the ball come back off the far post, before Giroud’s goal bound shot was inadvertently cleared off the line by Wilshere.

The Arsenal faithful needn’t have worried though, as with five minutes left, Wilshere got the goal his performance so richly deserved. Giroud’s ball set the young Englishman up perfectly to advance on goal and unleash an unstoppable effort past Vorm, to send Wilshere, the rest of his Arsenal teammates and the crowd into wild hysterics. Wilshere’s celebration showed just what this club means to him and he is the one player who is truly pivotal to this side. Wenger must now build a team around him; it is surely the only way forward.  

Arsenal’s performance last night, particularly in the second half, was very encouraging. The Gunners have repeatedly struggled throughout this season to create goal scoring opportunities but yesterday were doing this at will. Yet although it is fair to say last night’s performance was reminiscent of Arsenal of old, there have been far too many false dawns this season for Gunners fans to get their hopes up. Only if Arsenal perform to a similar level during Sunday’s tough away game to Chelsea and then follow that up with another strong showing at home to West Ham and Liverpool, can the Arsenal faithful finally begin to believe that their side has found the consistency that has been desperately lacking so far this season.