Jack Wilshere stepped up his recovery from a long-term injury by getting some minutes under his belt for the under-23 team.
In the Premier League 2 fixture between West Ham and Leicester City, Wilshere played for just over an hour.
The scores were level at 0-0 when he came off but relegation-threatened West Ham picked up a win, courtesy of Dan Kemp’s penalty.
But the game was not about Wilshere’s quality. Instead, the left-footed midfielder would have focused on getting his fitness back up.
The ex-Arsenal man is now one step closer to returning to first-team action and will hope to play a part this season.
Jack Wilshere at West Ham
It has been a frustrating season for the sporadic England international since his summer move across London.
After starting the first four games, Wilshere looked a key part of Manuel Pellegrini’s plans. But an ankle injury then kept him sidelined for the next three months.
Wilshere made his return with a five-minute cameo against Newcastle United in December, providing an assist during his short stint on the pitch.
But he suffered another ankle injury shortly afterwards. The notoriously injury-prone 27-year-old has been out ever since.
Here are some tweets from West Ham fans after Wilshere was announced in the starting line-up for the under-23 team.
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