Arsenal Vs Chelsea: 5 things we learned – Excellent result; troubling developments

4. Please don’t be too bad Jack

Jack Wilshere was starting his seventh successive game. In the other six, that stretched throughout the festive period, he had played 90 minutes in all of them. In an interview last week, he revealed that because of a new diet and stricter training regime, he is feeling fitter than ever, growing in confidence with what has been an extremely frail body. This was seemingly the time for him to simply enjoy his football. Or not, as the gods have deemed.

Midway through the second-half, Wilshere jumped to close down Danny Drinkwater’s whipped-in cross. The ball struck his ankle and, after a few moments of hobbling, he eventually fell to his haunches, asking for treatment from the sidelines. He was later substituted. Wenger, after the game, revealed that he had suffered an ankle sprain and is a doubt for Sunday’s game against Bournemouth.

Wilshere, up until that point, had been playing wonderfully. Two successful dribbles, dispossessed only once, a lovely clipped through pass for Alexandre Lacazette, and a 93% pass completion rate. Only two other Arsenal players were over 85%. But, as they have done throughout his career, injuries came back to bite at just the crucial moment. Let’s hope it’s not too bad. Unfortunately, we have been here before with Wilshere and his ankles.