Published: 30 October, 2014
by STEVE BARNETT

JACK Wilshere is confident that he’s nearing a return to his best ever form after revealing that “personal pride” has kept him driving forward. 

The England international will be in the heart of the Arsenal midfield on Saturday when they entertain Burnley at the Emirates Stadium. His name is once again fast becoming one of the first on manager Arsene Wenger’s team-sheet following a lengthy spell on the sidelines with various injuries that hampered his progress after a storming start to his career. 

Wilshere has been satisfied with his performances this season, but admits he expects to reach an even higher level over the coming months. “I’ve been very pleased,” he told Arsenal Player. “I said at the start of the season that it was going to take me a few games to come back to the level I was at. 

“When you miss time at this level you lose a bit of pace, a bit of form, and it takes you time to get back.

“The main thing that got me back is my pride,” he added. 

“I never wanted to stop – I was never satisfied with the level I was playing at.

“I always knew that I could come back to a level where I would be able to dominate games. I’m happy at the moment but I still think I can do a little bit better.” 

Team-mate Wojciech Szczesny recently said Wilshere would be the “complete player” if he could add more goals to his game, and the midfielder is in total agreement. “I’ve said before that my goal-scoring record has never been good enough and that I always want to add more goals,” he said.

“You look at the top mid-fielders in the world like Lampard and Gerrard who were getting 15 or 20 goals a season back in their day.

“I’m not saying I can get that many because they were specialists at that – but I could definitely get into double figures.”