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Arsenal v Man city
Arsenal's Jack Wilshere, left, accelerates away from Manchester City's Fernandinho at the Emirates Stadium. Photograph: John Patrick Fletcher/JP Fletcher/Andrew Orchard sports photography Photograph: John Patrick Fletcher/JP Fletcher/Andrew Orchard sports photography
Arsenal's Jack Wilshere, left, accelerates away from Manchester City's Fernandinho at the Emirates Stadium. Photograph: John Patrick Fletcher/JP Fletcher/Andrew Orchard sports photography Photograph: John Patrick Fletcher/JP Fletcher/Andrew Orchard sports photography

Arsène Wenger: Jack Wilshere is finally back to his best for Arsenal

This article is more than 9 years old
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As revelations go, it was pretty startling. Jack Wilshere, one of the great hopes of English football has not, according to his manager, Arsène Wenger, been able to kick the ball properly.

Wilshere’s fledging career has been pock-marked by injury problems with each of his ankles – the right one more than the left – and Wenger explained that “for a long time” the midfielder had been rolling his feet to put the weight on the inside or outside of them. The over-compensation had affected his technique, particularly his shooting.

The midfielder and the notion of the fresh start has a familiar ring to it but there was nevertheless something uplifting about his performance in this lunchtime cracker with Manchester City, who showed the steel of champions to earn their point.

Wilshere had a couple of bull in a china shop moments, most notably when he got away with a blatant handball inside his own area with Arsenal 2-1 up. But he was generally in exciting harmony, his acceleration and the vision and execution of his approach play topped only by his silky smooth equaliser. Wilshere knows that he needs to add goals to his game, as his team-mate Aaron Ramsey did last season. This was a statement of intent.

“For a long time Jack did not kick the ball well because of his ankle,” Wenger said. “Now, in training, you see he kicks the ball well and he works on his finishing. I feel his shot, with his ankle, is clean again. He has found his power back.

“He stays on his feet, which is the big difference. When he was not as confident, he would push on his ankle and go down on his body. He is more solid in this aspect. I was very happy with his finishing and he looked dangerous in the first half as well because he has found his pace back. That, for a while, was not the case.”

It was an afternoon of eye-catching individual displays. Alexis Sánchez was electric and his goal was beautifully taken; Wojciech Szczesny made vital saves from David Silva at 1-0 to City and the substitute Edin Dzeko in injury time while Danny Welbeck’s Arsenal debut contained flashes of class. He was unlucky to see his early clipped finish hit a post.

For City, Vincent Kompany was towering and stifling; Jesús Navas exploited the spaces behind Arsenal’s marauding full-backs, Silva probed intelligently and it is always a pleasure to watch Sergio Agüero.

If Arsenal can be flighty, prone to dramatic extremes and with fragility in their make-up, City looked consistent and assured. They stayed the course, and they came close to snatching it after Martín Demichelis’s headed equaliser. Twice, they hit posts before Dzeko was denied by Szczesny. Kompany could talk, with justification, about the strength of City’s mentality.

There were plenty of arguments. Wenger accused City of “systematic fouls”, of cynically seeking to disrupt Arsenal’s pacy flow while Manuel Pellegrini spat out his criticism of the referee, Mark Clattenburg, and the assistants.

The City manager complained that there had been fouls in the buildup to both Arsenal goals and he was deeply disappointed about the non-penalty award against Wilshere. At one point, Pellegrini seemed to sense conspiracy against his champions. It is often said that retaining the title is even harder.

“It is very difficult because all the teams will try to beat us because we are the champions,” Pellegrini said. “In our previous game, against Stoke, it was very difficult against a team who played very well and we had a clear penalty for Yaya Touré that they didn’t whistle. Against Arsenal, it was unbelievable – two fouls on the two goals and the clear penalty with Wilshere. Strong teams and referees, at this moment, are not helping.”

There was a clearer worry for Arsenal in the way that they fell apart after the right-back Mathieu Debuchy was taken off on a stretcher with a serious ankle sprain in the 81st minute. Demichelis was unmarked when he headed in from the substitute Aleksandar Kolarov’s corner and Arsenal rode their luck thereafter.

“The only concern I have is that we could not kill the game off,” Wenger said. “We were closer to losing at 2-2. Their equaliser was unbelievable. We just switched off. Was it psychological from Debuchy’s injury? We did not look the same team after that. We looked a bit lost.”

Arsenal fear that Debuchy will be out for three months, which will further stretch their threadbare defensive resources. The 19-year-old Calum Chambers, another summer signing, replaced Debuchy at right-back and he will continue in the position but Wenger has just four other specialist defenders in his senior squad. The academy right-back Héctor Bellerín, another 19-year-old, enters the reckoning.

Man of the match Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

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