Premier League 2013/14: Predicting Best Players Of Each Club

Arsenal - Jack Wilshere

Arsenal, thanks to a great run of form in the last few months of last season, finished in fourth place ahead of North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, but again questions were asked about the strength and consistency of the squad. With the lack of investment in new players in the current transfer window due to a long drawn-out pursuit of Liverpool want-away Luis Suarez, most pundits have written off Arsenal's chances of winning the title, suggesting that the best they could hope for is another top-four finish. As an Arsenal fan, I am required to believe that we can win the championship, along with every other competition we enter, but I am inclined to agree with the assessment of the experts and merely desire any trophy to end our seemingly unending drought. Arsenal, if the last few seasons are anything to go by, go through periods of unbelievable skill and panache, with a flow of victories, but these are surrounded by some absolutely hopeless performances to bring the club back down to earth. These losses can be against those with the same championship aspirations, or they could be balancing on the brink of relegation, but Arsenal has demonstrated that they do not have the level of consistency or bottle as at least three other teams in the division. In a team that shares out the goals between a number of attacking-minded players, the most important area of the team in my opinion is the player that will keep possession in the midfield and carve out the chances for these players to finish off. Jack Wilshere may be younger than the Premier League itself, but he has become a key fixture in the Arsenal team and is seen as the main hope for English football in the future. Wilshere, a talented passer of the ball with a gritty edge to his game, has been absent for much of the last two years due to injury, but it was apparent every time that he competed for the club that he added a new dimension to the side that was previously filled by Cesc Fabregas. If he can remain fit for the entire campaign, he can have a significant impact on both the fortunes of Arsenal in the league and England in their road to Brazil next Summer. Fleet-footed but hard-headed, he will pull the strings in the centre of the pitch, and set up chances for the likes of Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott that will hopefully keep them in contention for the title. Where will they finish? - 4th