Do Arsenal need one or both of their Former 10s? – Wilshere talks Ozil and a Dream Return

Jack at NAS, Dubai

There is little doubt that Arsenal have a creativity issue and a confidence crisis at present, with Sunday’s defeat at home to Wolves condemning The Gunners to their worst start to a Premier League campaign for decades. Arteta’s team sit 14^th and any fans making predictions here at casinosuden.com might be forgiven for not predicting Arsenal to bounce back with a win against the old enemy in the North London Derby. Uncomfortably for the red half of North London, Mourinho’s men sit at the top of the division.

There hope will be that the old adage of ‘form goes out of the window’, when derby day arrives will be the hope of the Arsenal supporters, although many seemed resigned to a loss at Tottenham’s new stadium. Certainly, there is not much in the way of positive news coming out of the Emirates and the new that Thomas Partey’s injury might keep him side-lined for 6 weeks is seriously running salt into an open wound.

Strangely, in a week where one would expect the news to be dominated by European football build up and the NLD, the Arsenal fans have been reading headlines caused by and about two previous Number 10’s rather than the need for a new one. Former Gooner favourite, Jack Wilshere, still clubless, 2 months after leaving West Ham  Wilshere spoke to Paul Radley when visiting the NAS Sports Complex in Dubai about another former Arsenal 10, Mesut Ozil.

Need Ozil to create for Auba

Wilshere, like a large section of the Arsenal faithful, is bemused at the German playmaker being frozen out by Arteta (or the board) when the team are so obviously missing his visionary instincts. As Jack suggested, his ex-team have one of the best strikers in world football and no one to provide him with consistent service. As a creative midfielder himself, Wilshere feels in the club cannot find the right blend by January they might need to call on the outcast, whilst obviously not ruling out a return the club that made him a star himself.

Wilshere’s comments have been jumped on by the bookies, as reported here, and they make Arsenal now favourites to offer Super Jack, a pay as you play deal. Glasgow Rangers, and a reunification with former England colleague Stevie Gerrard has been the top tip, but they are now second favourites.

Certainly, he left West Ham uninjured and is training on his own to get back to peak fitness in Dubai but is he a good short-term option for another former colleague in Arteta? Personally, I doubt the Spaniard will see Wilshere as a solution, but I would not rule it out. Wenger would have had his former player back training with the squad so he could assess the readiness first-hand. The present Manager has not done so which suggests the bookies might be barking up the wrong tree, although some fans might see Wilshere has no worse and option than some incumbents.

Happy colleagues 2014

If the fanbase were asked to vote with their heats rather than their heads, I suspect they would still rather a 36-year-old Santi Cazorla than Jack but I could be wrong. One thing I can say with full certainty is that Wilshere is a man who knows how important Sunday’s game is, so roll on the North London Derby!!

Dave Seager

Passionate fifty-something Arsenal supporter who has been making the journey to N5 regularly since the early 1980s – although his first game was in 1976. Always passionate when talking about The Arsenal, Dave decided to send a guest blog to Gunnersphere in the summer of 2011 and has not stopped writing about the Gunners since.

He set up his own site – 1 Nil Down 2 One Up – in February 2012, which he moved on in 2016 to concentrate on freelance writing and building Gunners Town, which he launched with Paul in 2014.

The objective of GT was to be new and fresh and to give a platform for likeminded passionate Arsenal fans wishing to write about their team. Dave still of course, writes for the site himself and advises the ever-changing writing crew.