Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger praises Jack Wilshere's 'outstanding' contribution in win over BATE Borisov

  • Arsenal beat BATE Borisov 4-2 in the Europa League on Thursday night 
  • Midfielder Jack Wilshere put in a man of the match display in Belarus
  • The Englishman has recently returned to the side after recovering grom injury

Arsene Wenger praised Jack Wilshere's 'outstanding' contribution to Arsenal's 4-2 Europa League victory at BATE Borisov.

On the same day the midfielder was omitted from the latest England squad - at a time when they are short of options in his favoured position - he consistently demonstrated the vision and creativity that once made him such a promising talent.


Aged 25 he is attempting to recover a place in Wenger's starting XI and earn an extension to the contract that expires at the season's end, but having recovered his fitness, at the Borisov Arena in Belarus he proved he still has much to offer.

Jack Wilshere celebrates after setting up Theo Walcott for Arsenal's first goal

Jack Wilshere celebrates after setting up Theo Walcott for Arsenal's first goal

Arsene Wenger praised Wilshere's 'outstanding' contribution to Arsenal's victory

Arsene Wenger praised Wilshere's 'outstanding' contribution to Arsenal's victory

Santi Cazorla's long-term Achilles injury has left Arsenal short of composure in central midfield. 

Wilshere - recalled alongside Theo Walcott, Per Mertesacker and Olivier Giroud as Wenger made nine changes in preparation for Sunday's fixture at home to Brighton - possesses that quality and showed it playing throughout the final third.

His passing repeatedly stretched BATE, whose defeat was secured by two finishes from Walcott, another from Rob Holding and Giroud's penalty, which was his 100th goal for the club, and Wenger said: 'He had an outstanding first half.

'He fights until the end. He's on his way back to his best and showed that. He's at an age where a player normally gets to the best of his career. He's on the way up. He's only been stopped by a series of injuries.

Wilshere demonstrated the vision and creativity that once made him such a promising talent

Wilshere demonstrated the vision and creativity that once made him such a promising talent

'Hopefully, I just pray, he is not hampered by any more problems and that will see him getting stronger and stronger. He's shown again that he's not lost his football.

'We had a team that was a mixture of experienced players and young players and we had good cohesion and played football like I want them to play, with a good pace.

'We maintained it for 65 minutes and then the last 20 minutes were a bit more difficult. Overall I'm very pleased with our performance.

'BATE is a good team, has good cohesion, good technical level, works well together, and we needed a good performance to beat them.'