Wilshere rewarded Arsenal's dominance with a second goal in the 65th minute, after Mesut Ozil had seen a penalty saved, to leave Arsene Wenger's side three points clear of Borussia Dortmund and Napoli at the top of Group F.
Arsenal can now secure their progress to the knockout rounds for the 11th successive season by avoiding defeat in their final group game at Napoli on December 11.
However, Napoli's loss to Dortmund in Tuesday's other group game means that should Arsenal lose in Naples, and Dortmund win in Marseille, qualification would be decided by goal difference in the three games between Arsenal, Dortmund and Napoli.
Arsenal manager Wenger made three changes to the team that beat Southampton 2-0 on Saturday, with Nacho Monreal, Tomas Rosicky and former Marseille midfielder Mathieu Flamini coming into the team.
Bacary Sagna freed Wilshere on the Arsenal right and the England midfielder lazily stepped inside Lucas Mendes's challenge before steadying himself and curling a left-foot shot into the top-left corner.
It would have been 2-0 six minutes later, after Olivier Giroud set Wilshere free again and he squared for Aaron Ramsey, but from 10 yards the in-form Welshman saw his shot cannon back off Steve Mandanda's chest.
Ramsey appeared fortunate to win a penalty after tangling with Nicolas N'Koulou, the challenge occurring just outside the 18-yard box, but Ozil saw his spot-kick pushed away by Mandanda.
The entrances of Valbuena and Florian Thauvin as substitutes threatened to make it an uncomfortable closing half hour for Wenger's men, but in the 65th minute they scored the second goal that their persistence merited.
Ramsey was the instigator, sliding a subtle pass down the inside-right channel for Ozil, and the German partly atoned for his failed penalty attempt by centring for Wilshere to side-foot home his second goal.
In Switzerland, Chelsea conceded a late goal to Basel's Mohamed Salah to lose 1-0 but have qualified for the round of 16, with the Blues' Group E rivals Basel and Schalke playing off next match.
Barcelona were beaten by Ajax in Holland to leave themselves still needing a point against Celtic in their last game to top the group. The dutch powerhouse held on to a 2-1 victory. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com