Arsenal: Jack Wilshere turning midfield into double-barreled shotgun

Arsenal enlisted Granit Xhaka for his obscene long-passing ability, but with Jack Wilshere adding similar, this midfield is suddenly stacked with over-the-top balls.

Aaron Ramsey‘s return should be sneaking up on Arsenal just in time, as Jack Wilshere has suffered an “ankle sprain,” according to Arsene Wenger (as quoted by SkySports). And while I will be thrilled to see the three goal, six assist Welshman back in the starting XI, it will be a massive shame to see Wilshere, who was really starting to hit his stride, evicted.

It has become pretty clear what one of Wilshere’s new-fangled strengths is. While he has always boasted the ability to take a ball and drive forward, bursting through the opposing midfield as well as playing quick one-touch passes, the Enlgishman has honed one of his other skills.

The longball.

Granit Xhaka was brought in to provide those over-the-top balls and it seems to be only a matter of time before it pairs to perfection with Alexandre Lacazette and his well-timed runs. But in the meantime, Wilshere has added his own ability to loop perfect longballs.

He’d been trying to implement it during his tenure in the Premier League, but it really struck gold against Crystal Palace when his perfectly-weighted arching pass found a charging Alexis Sanchez, who slotted home.

In that match, he completed three of his four longballs to great effectiveness, and that trend would pick up again against Chelsea in the wide-open 2-2 draw. Wilshere matched the long-pass master Xhaka with four of eight completed, while the Swiss managed three of his eight.

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In the semi-final against Chelsea, Xhaka may have led the bunch with four of eight, but Wilshere provided the greater threats with his three for three, one of which Lacazette really should have done more with.

This has not been such a big piece of Wilshere’s game before. He is finding the runs in behind that Xhaka has struggled to as of late and it’s turning this midfield into a double-barreled machine of weaponry.

Ramsey is a superb passer, no doubt, but he hasn’t made as many splashes with his long balls. It’s not like removing that skill is going to be that detrimental to the midfield’s effectiveness, but the thought of having both Xhaka and Wilshere firing on all cylinders in that aerial passing game is just delicious.

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Until that time comes to pass though, I’ll be happy to settle with the superb, dangerous runs of the returning Welshman.

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