Jack has stolen a march on Barkley
MINUTE by minute, game by game this winter Jack Wilshere has gradually become more and more important to Arsenal.
The 26-year-old, who ended last season with a broken leg, began this one as the most outside of outsiders at the Emirates, a player confined to the margins.
But since early December, Wilshere has been in Arsene Wenger’s team and playing better and better, missing only one of the past seven games.
And now he is suddenly again crucial. Ross Barkley is a player – an England hopeful, one for the future – just like Wilshere.
Spurning a move to Chelsea in the summer, he then missed the entire first half of the season with a hamstring injury, refusing to sign a new deal with Everton and eventually, on January 5, finally getting the £15million move to Chelsea he wanted. A little later than Wilshere, Barkley, 24, was back in action, coming on as a substitute for Chelsea last night as Willian limped off injured, for his first piece of action of the entire campaign.
For both players, the next five months are crucial. England manager Gareth Southgate has welcomed the return of Wilshere to full fitness and form.
He said yesterday: “It’s a real plus to see him playing as well as he is and playing regularly. He is a player who nobody has ever questioned the quality of. We
want our best players to be available and in good form.”
Exactly the same words could apply to Barkley, who currently has 22 caps to Wilshere’s 34.
For both, the ticket for the plane to Russia in the summer rests on their performances – and fitness – between now and the end of the season.
The only game that Wilshere has missed in recent weeks for the Gunners was the miserable FA Cup third-round defeat at the hands of Championship side Nottingham Forest. In every other game, he has often operated from a deep role allowing him to carry the ball forward, which is his strength.
Wilshere played slightly further forward last night as once again Arsenal met Chelsea, in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
Chelsea came with an attacking line-up which shook Arsenal early on, Eden Hazard giving the Blues an early lead.
Barkley entered the fray earlier than he had probably expected, shouted at by manager Antonio Conte, who wanted him ready quickly as Willian departed. By then Nacho Monreal’s header had deflected off Antonio Rudiger to level the scores.
The England men clashed just before half-time as Barkley won the ball off Wilshere – who then hacked him down, earning a yellow card. After that bright start, it was the usual cagey affair.
Barkley, like any new boy, found it hard to fit in straight away and gave the ball away a couple of times.
He slotted into Chelsea’s front three, a foil for the excellent Hazard. Wilshere probed, prompted, but also shouted and organised, pointing, ordering.
And his urgency was infectious, as Granit Xhaka capitalised on another deflection off Rudiger to poke Arsenal into the lead.
For Barkley these are early days. Peripheral last night, his influence has to grow.
For Wilshere, this momentum has to be carried on. Never mind being offered a new contract at lesser wages, the talking is done on the pitch.