jack wilshere has moved a step closer to recovery from the serious ankle injury that has wrecked his season after completing 90 minutes for arsenal’s under 21 side the england midfielder came through the 4 1 win over stoke city unscathed as he pushes for a return to arsene wenger’s first team before the end of the campaign he was joined by mikel arteta and abou diaby, recovering from ankle and calf injuries respectively, in the under 21 premier league fixture at the emirates stadium jack wilshere moved a step closer to recovery from the serious ankle injury after 90 minutes for the u21 side  wilshere tries to cut inside of stoke's ollie shenton during the match in the u21 premier league  alex iwobi stole the show with a hat trick for arsenal at the emirates alongside a few of their senior stars  hat trick hero iwobi is capped for england’s youth teams but likely to play for nigeria  arsenal under 21: deyan iliev; ainsley maitland niles, stefan o’connor, krystian bielik, brandon ormonde ottewill, abou diaby (julio pleguezuelo 71), mikel arteta (c) (stephy mavididi 60), serge gnabry, jack wilshere, daniel crowley, alex iwobi  substitutes not used: ryan huddart (gk); george dobson, gedion zelalem  scorers: iwobi 23, 40, 90+2; mavididi 73  stoke city under 21: daniel gyollai; johnville pringle, liam edwards, mason watkins clarke (ryan o’reilly 61), ben barber, yusuf coban (robbie parry 66), charlie ward (c), ollie robert (danny jarvis 71), joel taylor, nathan ricketts hopkinson, ollie shenton  substitutes not used: dominic kurasik (gk); tom adeloye  scorer: shenton 8  referee: anthony da costa  attendance: 2,674  wilshere has been out of action since suffering the injury in the 2 1 home defeat by manchester united on november 22 but is finally nearing full fitness it has been the latest in a succession of injury problems that have hampered his development into the world class player he was expected to become for club and country having made a return to action in a reserve friendly with brentford last week, this was a step up in quality for wilshere and he exerted a quiet influence without taking a hold on the game he saw a free kick 25 yards from goal deflected just over the crossbar early on and initiated a move later in the first half that culminated in serge gnabry firing a snapshot on the turn that was saved the legs of stoke goalkeeper daniel gyollai wilshere might have capped his night with a goal but his improvised volley from a brandon ormonde ottewill cross was saved before stephy mavididi slammed home the rebound for arsenal’s third on 73 minutes arteta, who has been on the sidelines since the champions league game with borussia dortmund on november 26, captained the team but failed to make much of an impact during his hour of involvement diaby, whose never ending succession of injuries has seen him absent for an astonishing 226 weeks of his arsenal career, was arguably their most influential performer as he fights for a new contract mikel arteta was among the players as he stepped up his recovery from an ankle injury  wilshere runs with the ball during the u21 premier league match on tuesday night at the emirates  with his runs through the centre of midfield, diaby caused plenty of problems for the stoke defence and he had two opportunities to get on the scoresheet in his 70 minutes of action on 17 minutes, a lovely through ball from gnabry set him clear inside the box but a last ditch tackle ruined everything and, shortly afterwards, he curled a shot a fraction over the bar from the edge of the area with the first teamers mis firing, it was left to alex iwobi to make an impression with two clinical first half goals that were almost identical and a stoppage time third on 23 minutes, iwobi, who is capped for england’s youth teams but likely to play for nigeria, surged at the stoke defence, beat two men and fired crisply across the keeper and into the far corner and he repeated the trick five minutes before the break, locating the same corner from pretty much the same position after latching on to diaby’s slide rule pass abou diaby of arsenal pictured shooting during the match between arsenal u21 and stoke city u21  england midfielder wilshere came through the 4 1 win over stoke unscathed on tuesday night  arsenal had started on the back foot and fell behind eight minutes in when the highly rated ollie shenton was gifted the simplest of close range finishes when goalkeeper deyan iliev fumbled a cross from nathan ricketts hopkinson but by the time iwobi completed his hat trick in stoppage time, arsenal were in complete control it was the best of the young striker’s treble as he burst forward at lightning pace and delicately lifted the ball over the keeper when arsenal’s senior side have been a first division team for a century, it seems incongruous to find the under 21s stuck in the second division but that could soon be rectified this win kept them in touch with the leading pack and arsenal retain games in hand on all above them as they seek to claim one of the two promotion places to the top division
abou diaby 90 minutes emirates wilshere arsenal under 21 mikel arteta jack wilshere stoke
jack wilshere played 90 minutes for arsenal's under 21 side  mikel arteta and abou diaby also played at the emirates against stoke  wilshere has been recovering from a serious ankle injury 