Wilshere and Walcott star as Arsenal click against BATE
Arsenal 6, BATE Borisov 0
Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere vowed to force his way into manager Arsene Wenger’s first-team thoughts after he played a starring role in the Gunners’ Europa League romp against BATE Borisov.
Wilshere capitalised on a rare start with a star turn against the Belarusian outfit, scoring his first goal for more than two and a half years and setting up another for Mohamed Elneny.
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“All we can do is, when we get the opportunity, show what we can do, try to get in the team and give the manager a little bit of a headache,” said Wilshere.
“If we are called upon in the Premier League from the bench we have to be ready. We have to support the boys when they’re playing because at the end of the day we’re all Arsenal and we want the best for Arsenal. We’ll be ready and we’ll keep doing.”
Arsenal had already secured top spot in Group H and could be drawn against Napoli, Borussia Dortmund or Celtic in the last 32 on Monday. Defeat eliminated BATE.
Forward Theo Walcott also thrived in a side featuring 11 changes, scoring his fourth of the season, winning a penalty converted by Olivier Giroud and playing a part in Mathieu Debuchy’s strike and a BATE own goal.
“There’s plenty of competition when you play for Arsenal. It’s a great headache for the manager to have, so many top players that are performing well,” said Walcott.
“Like Jack says, we are doing our best to give the manager a headache and put us in the team. All we can do is when called upon be ready. Tonight we were very professional, everyone did their jobs.
“We enjoyed it. That’s what we want to do, we’re enjoying playing football again. We’ll see in time what’s going to happen.”
Who can Arsenal face in the last 32?
- Spartak Moscow
- Napoli
- Celtic
- Borussia Dortmund
- Astana
- Partizan Belgrade
- Ludogorets Razgrad
- AEK Athens
- Lyon
- FC Copenhagen
- Steaua Bucharest
- Marseille
- Ostersunds
- Nice
- Real Sociedad
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