Jack Wilshere has explained that the only positive from Arsenal’s 2-1 loss to Ostersunds on Thursday night was that his side managed to progress to the next round of the Europa League.
The Gunners, who won the first leg 3-0 away in Sweden last week, conceded two goals in quick succession midway through the first half.
Hosam Aiesh opened the scoring for Ostersunds in the 22nd minute before Ken Sema doubled the visitors’ advantage just a minute later.
Sead Kolasinac pulled one back for Arsenal shortly after the half time break as the north London outfit put in a much improved performance in the second half.
Although Ostersunds won the match, Arsenal went through to the next round of the Europa League, where they have been drawn to face AC Milan.
relatedNewsStory
And Wilshere, who feels Arsenal progressing in the European competition is the sole positive from the game, praised the character shown in the last 45 minutes.
“We’re through, so that’s probably the only positive”, he told the club’s official site.
“We did show better character in the second half.
“We came out and we had a little bit of a go, but it wasn’t good enough.
“You can’t start a game like that and expect to compete at this level, even against Ostersunds, they’ve got a lot of quality and they deserve to be in this tournament as much as we do."
Arsenal are next up against Manchester City in the EFL Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.
