Jack Wilshere: Competition for places at Arsenal brings out the best in me

Jack Wilshere insists he is not fazed by the recent increase in competition for places in Arsenal’s midfield.

The 21-year-old England international was a second-half substitute in the Gunners’ 2-0 win over Napoli in the Champions league on Tuesday night after playing the full 90 minutes in Saturday’s victory at Swansea.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger insisted after the game that he had opted to leave Wilshere out of the starting line-up purely to give the midfielder a rest.

And Wilshere is excited by the midfield options currently available at Emirates Stadium, with Mesut Özil and Mathieu Flamini both arriving at the club over the summer.

“I have played a lot of games recently, so I was just happy to get on and help at the end,” said Wilshere. “We still have Santi Cazorla to come back, so we are going to have a great squad.

“When I first broke into the team, it was similar – there was [Cesc] Fabregas, [Abou] Diaby, [Alex] Song, players like that.

“It brings the best out of me and it will bring the best out of the other players as well. If we can keep everyone fit, we are going to be real contenders in all four competitions.

“We have not really had this over the last few years, all of this competition for places. We are all excited and we just have to keep it up now.”

Wenger said he is using Wilshere with caution this season following the midfielder’s recent injury woes.

“I do not want to overload him,” said Wenger. “He comes back for a long time, he has given a lot on Saturday, and I decided that [to leave him out] very late today.

“With him I am a little bit more cautious than I was before.”