Jack Wilshere names one Spurs player he ‘hated playing against’ – Couldn’t get the ball off him

Arsenal may have the bragging rights in North London at the moment, but it wasn’t always that way during Jack Wilshere’s playing days. Now, the former Gunners star has explained why playing against Tottenham Hotspur was so difficult, with one player in particular causing problems.

Wilshere’s career never really played out the way it could and should have, with injury issues holding the midfielder back and even forcing him to leave his beloved Arsenal to find first-team opportunities.

He’s back at Arsenal now, though, as the club’s Under-18s coach, and things are going pretty well for him.

You couldn’t get the ball off Mousa Dembele

But, when thinking back to his playing days for the Gunners, Wilshere recalled having real difficulty getting the ball off Mousa Dembele at Spurs.

Discussing the best midfielders in the Premier League, Wilshere praised Steven Gerrard before going on to describe why Dembele was actually the most challenging opponent he faced.

He told Sky Sports: “He [Gerrard] would be up there, but it would be Mousa Dembele. I hated playing against him. Don’t get me wrong, that’s why I didn’t put him [Dembele] there because out of possession, he wasn’t as good as Gerrard, he wasn’t as committed. But, in possession, like getting the ball off him.

“Obviously, the games I played him in would be the North London derby. There’s a little bit extra on there and he would be even more at it. Yeah, you can get bored of him.”

Spurs Web Opinion

We all knew Mousa Dembele was a special player, but the number of his peers and opponents who have come out and explained how brilliant he was since he left Spurs is just further proof that we had one of the most technically gifted midfielders in the league and that we shouldn’t have let him go when we did.