There were four Arsenal players that started in the England win over Slovenia, but Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck are both expecting a much more competitive match against Scotland tomrrow, despite it being billed as a “friendly” match!
Wilshere even thinks tomorrows 111th meeting between the two neighbouring countries will be similar to the North London derby, with both sides desperate to win as always. “Of course it has the same meaning,” the Arsenal midfielder said in the Independent. “We’ve got a manager who has been around for a few years and he knows what England-Scotland means. He’s given us a speech about England-Scotland and told us that back in the day it was the highlight of the season.
“It’s not going to be very friendly. We’ve got to be ready for that. It’ll be a bit like Arsenal-Tottenham, Liverpool-United, but we’re used to that as players. We played them at Wembley a couple of years ago and it wasn’t the friendliest then so we know what we’re in for.”
“I’m desperate to play,” he continued. “They are the games that every England player wants to be playing in.
“You ask any member of my family or anyone who knows what it’s like, and they’d never forgive me if I didn’t play. They will always say England-Scotland that it’s going to be a great atmosphere. I want to play in that.
“For me, it’s going to be a bit tougher than the Slovenia game, they’ll be a bit more up for it on their home ground so we’ll be ready for it.”
Wilshere was Man-Of-The-Match against Slovenia, but his team-mate Danny Welbeck scored the two goals that made the points safe, and Arsenal’s young striker is also keen to play again. “Obviously it is only a friendly but we want to win every single game,” Welbeck told Sky Sports News. “We can’t go in thinking we are going to do anything else than that.
“It is going to be a great atmosphere. I watched the game against the Republic of Ireland the other night and the atmosphere sounded unbelievable. I just can’t wait to get out there and taste it.”
It’s great that these two are raring to do well for their country, but I, like most Arsenal fans, will simply be hoping that NONE of our players will go into a too-fierce challenge and end up joining our desperate injury list. We just know that the Scottish players are going to be just as fired up as England!