Arsenal have progressed greatly in the past few years, says Jack Wilshere

Jack Wilshere believes that Arsenal have made huge strides over the past few years and have played wonderful football through the length of this season.

The midfielder was absent for much of the campaign, after he suffered an ankle injury against Manchester United, which came off a hard tackle by defender Paddy McNair. The 23-year-old has recovered fully from injury, having had to wait for over a four-month period and is stepping up his rehabilitation by playing for the Arsenal U-21 side.

He has completed 90 minutes in both the games he has played thus far, which will give manager Arsene Wenger some hope that the player can come in and add some quality to the first team at the end of the season campaign and enhance their chances in the FA Cup.

The Gunners are currently second in the league, one point above Manchester United and two above Manchester City. Moreover, they have progressed into the semi-final of the FA Cup for the second year in succession as Wenger looks for his sixth trophy, the highest by a manager in the Premier League era.

Wilshere insists that the period when the Gunners were struggling with star players leaving is off the table and that they are going from strength to strength with the induction of world class players.

"Not just over the last season, I think it's over the last few years [that we have made progress]," Wilshere told Arsenal's official website.

"We lost a lot of players from when I started in the first team, a lot of people said Arsenal would never come back but we didn't listen to them.

"We kept going, added real quality, world-class players to the squad and the main thing here is the team ethic.

"You can see that we have a great atmosphere around, everyone wants to work for one another and we go into every game knowing we can create chances if we stay strong defensively.

"I remember when I got my first injury and it was the year when Cesc [Fabregas] left. We struggled that year at the start and it was tough to watch.

"It has been totally different this year - they have been playing great football and it has been a joy to watch," he added.