Arsène Wenger has admitted that he could do with Jack Wilshere in Arsenal’s depleted midfield at the moment although he still maintains the decision to send the 25-year-old on a season-long loan to Bournemouth – without inserting a recall clause – was the right one.
After a broken fibula sidelined Wilshere for nearly all of last season, Wilshere has impressed for Eddie Howe with both his form and his fitness – featuring in 17 of Bournemouth’s 20 league games thus far – and only missed Tuesday’s 3-3 draw with Arsenal because he was ineligible to face his parent club.
With Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin and Mesut Özil currently injured or ill, and Mohamed Elneny now at the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt, Wenger finds himself short of options in midfield for Saturday’s game against Preston North End.
“Yes, I could use Wilshere now,” Wenger said. “What looks unfair at some moment in the season is that you know at some stage you could need the player. But even at the start you need to have the right balance between competition and numbers and chances for the player to play. And still today I think it was the right decision for him to go.”
Granit Xhaka’s role looks likely to increase in the coming weeks, but Wenger expressed his concern at the £35m summer signing’s tendency to concede penalties. Xhaka conceded one at Bournemouth and another against Stoke last month. “He has conceded a few and he has to stop that,” Wenger said. “But is it really a penalty or not? I think he was unlucky on both occasions. But he has to adapt.
“You can see in his game he is not a dirty player. Overall I am quite happy with his defensive evolution. He is less spectacular in his tackling and he stays more on his feet. He uses his body better to win the challenges and his recovery runs are stronger when the ball goes behind him. Before he was a little bit in the moon.”
Wenger conceded that he could not put a timeframe on Cazorla’s return, while the club captain, Per Mertesacker, is “still three or four weeks away” with a calf injury but said both players should stay at the club beyond the expiry of their current contracts this summer. “We have an option on both of them and I think we will take it,” he added.
Wenger is set to select a strong side against Preston. “I will take my first-choice team,” he said. “At the moment David Ospina will start and maybe two or three players will be rested. We will play with 90% of the squad, I will rest Laurent Koscielny because he came off at Bournemouth with two problems in his thigh and Alexis Sánchez I will rest certainly, but the rest will play.”