Arsenal Vs AC Milan: 5 things we learned

Arsenal, Jack Wilshere — LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 15: Jack Wilshere of Arsenal puts on the Captains armband after the injury of Laurent Koscielny during the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 Second Leg match between Arsenal and AC Milan at Emirates Stadium on March 15, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

2. Jack Wilshere shines

In my player ratings, I gave Jack Wilshere my Man of the Match award. Perhaps he was deserving of it, perhaps he wasn’t. Everyone is welcome to their opinion. But I do feel that his influence on this game was undeniable, both in the spectacular moments and in the general pattern and structure of the match.

In an extremely free position with great license to roam, Wilshere had to be intelligent off the ball. It would have been easy for him to upset the balance of the team, whether it be being caught too high up the pitch, growing the distance between the midfield and the attack, or drifting wide, ceding control of the middle of the pitch, or sitting too deep, isolating Danny Welbeck as the lone striker.

He tip-toed that line brilliantly, and his stats prove it. Most importantly, even for all of his attacking intentions, he lost the ball four times, the same amount as Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. That is good for a player of his safety-averse nature. In addition to that, he completed four of his six dribble attempts, both game highs, and maintained a 96% pass-completion rate, bettered by only Calum Chambers among Arsenal players. Very, very good indeed.