JACK EUR BACK
Wenger offers Wilshere Europa League lifeline
ARSENE WENGER is poised to throw Jack Wilshere a Europa League lifeline. The Arsenal boss will rest and rotate his line-up and make drastic changes for Thursday’s game with Cologne and through the early rounds of the competition. And he has earmarked Wilshere to make what would be his first appearance for the Gunners in 13 months. Wilshere, 25, is fit after breaking his leg while on loan at Bournemouth last season and decided to stay at the Emirates after being told he will get games in Europe and the domestic cups. Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez are also likely to be given game time on Thursday, with Chile forward Sanchez needing to get match-fit. Wenger is committed to the highrisk strategy through the group stage and increase the number of big names for the knockout phase. But he is aware of the demands of Sunday’s trip to Chelsea and will prioritise the Premier League. Gunners keeper Petr Cech won the Europa League in 2013 while at Chelsea (below) and insists Arsenal want to make history by lifting the trophy. He said: “You make your decision. When I was at Chelsea we were really disappointed to be out of the group stage of the Champions League, but we decided it was the first, and hopefully the last, time we played the Europa League and we wanted to win it. “You decide how to approach it. You go in it to win it, give yourself a chance to do it or make different priorities and then see how it goes. “It’s one of the trophies this club hasn’t won since it became the Europa League. It’s always nice to win a European trophy.”