Wilshere ‘back on track’ and ready for new deal
Jack Wilshere is now certain that he will sign a new contract at Arsenal, after manager Arsene Wenger finally scheduled formal talks with his midfielder for the beginning of next month.
Wilshere delivered arguably his best Arsenal performance since his first major injury back in 2011 in last night’s 3-2 win over Crystal Palace, and Wenger said the 25-year-old was now back to his best.
Having joined Arsenal at the age of nine, Wilshere has always wanted to stay and fight for his place, but his situation seemed ominous earlier in the year when he returned from a season on loan at Bournemouth with a broken leg and then struggled to establish
himself in the first-team. An injury to Aaron Ramsey has provided a prolonged opportunity in the Premier League and, while final details on the length and financial scale of the contract are far from agreed, there is a growing confidence on all sides.
“I have spoken to the boss and he says he will speak to me – I’m sure it will get done,” said Wilshere. Talks are scheduled after next Wednesday’s Premier League match against Chelsea, when Wilshere will almost certainly be rested for Arsenal’s FA Cup third-round match against Nottingham Forest.
“It’s planned – there is no delay,” said Wenger. “Jack is coming back into competitive shape. He gives something to the team at the moment, and gave a good final ball for the third goal.”
Alexis Sanchez is also out of con-
tract next summer and scored twice last night, but there is now no real expectation that he will sign a new deal, amid interest from Manchester City and Paris St- Germain.
“I am not fearful [of a bid coming in], but that is a subject that will turn up because of his contract situ-
ation,” said Wenger. “I have said that many times since the start of the season, so I can only repeat what I have said.”
Wilfried Zaha was booked for Crystal Palace after his angry pleas to referee Michael Oliver for a firsthalf penalty. “I think he felt hard
done by,” said his manager, Roy Hodgson. “He was bundled over once or twice. I wasn’t creating as much fuss as Wilf was, but I wasn’t the one being bundled over.
“He did well to calm down at half-time to make sure any injustice he might have felt was channelled into his performance. He caused them a lot of problems, and a lot of the half-chances we were creating were with him at the centre.
“At 1-1 I thought we were playing well and we were on the front foot, but the second goal was so difficult. To go down 2-1 was a difficult task.
“But you have to give the players credit, at 3-1 a lot of teams would have capitulated, but we certainly didn’t do that.
“Our second goal was a scant reward for the chances we had in the second half, but we were beaten by the better team on the day.”