Press conference

'Wilshere is a good way back to his best'

Jack Wilshere completed another 90 minutes on Thursday night as we made it six points from six in Group H of the Europa League.

 

The England international set up Theo Walcott for our opener - and Arsene Wenger was impressed with the midfielder’s display.

Here’s what the boss said in his post-match press conference: 

on his reaction to the result…

I believe overall we had a team that was a mixture of experienced players and young players and overall we had a good cohesion. We played football like we wanted to play, with good pace in our game. We maintained it for 65 minutes maybe, but the last 20 minutes were a bit more difficult. Overall, I am very pleased with our performance.

on Jack Wilshere’s performance…

He had an outstanding first half and he did fight until the end. I think he is on a good way back to his best. He has shown that tonight.

on whether Jack can become even better with his vision and technical skill…

He is at an age where a player normally gets to the best of his career. He is on the way up and he has only been stopped by a series of injuries. Hopefully, I just pray that he is not hampered anymore by any problems and then we will see him getting stronger and stronger. He has shown again tonight that he has not lost his football.

on when Jack Wilshere’s contract situation will be resolved…

Not tonight.

on Olivier Giroud scoring his 100th goal…

I just congratulated him for his remarkable achievement of 100 goals. He is in good company when you look. It is a remarkable achievement. When you play football, the most difficult thing is to score goals and he has scored 100 for us. I just congratulated him for that remarkable achievement.

on whether he asks his experienced players to lead by example in games like this…

Yes, of course. I believe these players practise with us every day and they know how we want to play. I must say, BATE Borisov is a good team who have good cohesion. They have a good technical level, they work well together and we needed a good performance to beat them tonight.

See Full List

Fixtures & Results

Premier League
Ticket Info