Arsenal: Final Premier League purpose comes to fruition

 Jack Wilshere has revealed that he and his Arsenal teammates now have momentum entering Thursday’s Europa League tie against CSKA Moscow. This is now the final Premier League purpose.

Before Arsenal hosted Stoke City on Sunday afternoon, they had slipped 13 points behind North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who sat in fourth-position at the time and faced another season of Champions League qualification failure. The Premier League’s importance had diminished. Substantially.

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But that does not mean that the league campaign is futile. Even after Sunday’s win over Stoke, there are still seven games remaining for the Gunners. Those games are not all completely insignificant. They do have value. And it was actually Jack Wilshere’s comments after the victory that revealed a little of that value.

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Wilshere was actually asked about the upcoming quarter-final tie against CSKA Moscow. Clearly, that is now the focus of the season. And rightly so. But while he admitted that it is a ‘big game’, he then proceeded to talk about how the win against Stoke was so important for the confidence and the momentum of the squad as they lead up to the midweek, European clash. Here is what he said in full:

"“It’s a big game. We needed that 90 minutes out of the way. We needed to get the three points, move on and keep the momentum going. We’ve won a few in a row and wanted to keep that going. Now we’ve got a big one on Thursday and we’re ready for that.”"

Wilshere later talks about how the first 45 minutes of the match helped blow off the cobwebs of the international break and two weeks without domestic football. For him, that is why Arsenal were so loose and wayward in that first half.

Whether that is true or not does not really matter. The point of perspective still stands: Wilshere’s comments in regards to the Stoke game were solely pointed towards the Moscow game, whether it be in regards to the confidence of the squad, the momentum that they had generated and preserved, the match sharpness of the players, the readiness of the team in general. The priority, clearly, is the Europa League.

But this gives a purpose to the remaining Premier League games. Preparation is important. Arsene Wenger now has seven games in which he can ready his players, tactically, technically and mentally. He can implement and experiment with different strategies, he can encourage his players, he can sharpen their minds, build their confidence, and improve their form.

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That is what Wilshere is referring to. That is what he is saying the Stoke game has done for Thursday. Long may it continue.