Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is a better technical player than former Chelsea player Claude Makelele, according to England manager Fabio Capello.

The England boss set to give Wilshere a starting role in the friendly with Denmark on February 9.

Wilshere, who had a short substitute appearance against Hungary in August, will be given the chance by the England boss to show he has a future in the holding role in England's midfield in Copenhagen.

Capello wants Wilshere to sit in midfield to give Steven Gerrard the chance to push forward.

Manchester City's Gareth Barry has not shone in this role and Manchester United's Owen Hargreaves, Capello's first choice, has seen his career hampered by injury.

Capello sees Wilshere taking on a role which Claude Makelele, currently with Paris St Germain, filled for France, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

"Wilshere is better technically than Makelele. He's slower than Makelele but when he receives the ball he is more dangerous than Makelele," Capello told the Daily Telegraph.

"Wilshere is the best young player. He now plays all the time with Arsenal. If you play with Arsenal, you are a really good player because Arsene Wenger likes good players.

"I think he's mature enough to play this role. He's a really interesting player.

"The players will arrive really tired. They play a lot of games before this. I have to change and make six substitutions. But it will be important for Wilshere to understand he will be the future."

Capello revealed he had to look at alternatives because of Hargreaves' injury problems.

He said: "Hargreaves played this position very, very well every game. But after the knee problem, he was never back.

"I put different players in there but they'd never played in this position. Barry with Aston Villa never played this position. He started to play there only with me [and now with Manchester City]. But I saw Wilshere play every game in this position."

Capello also revealed he was happy to see Wilshere's team-mate Theo Walcott back in action.

"He is playing how I remember when he started to play with us. It was a tough decision leaving Theo out for the World Cup.

"He is one of the players after the World Cup I thought about a lot. I made a mistake not selecting him."

It’s time to fly the flag, to stand up and be counted, to be unequivocally and shamelessly chauvinistic about all things Arsenal. Today, we fight for our pride!

I may be preaching to the choir on this one but a re-affirmation of all that the letters AFC stands for is long overdue.

History

We are the most successful club in London and the third most successful team in English football history. Herbert Chapman was our first visionary manager, introducing numbers on the back of players shirts for the first time, developing under-turf heating on his watch and creating new playing systems (the famous W-W) that are still relevant today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/oct/26/the-question-barcelona-reinventing-w-w

The way we won the league in ’89 has never been matched for excitement by any other league-winning club and the Graham years featured a back four that was so famous it inspired references in films!

And then we have the league and cup doubles in’71, ’98 and 2002, the league and FA cup double in ’93- the first time this was done, and we were the first team since Preston in 1888 to go an entire league season without losing.

Not only do we have an immense history of success, we also have a history of ‘firsts’ in innovation and changing the game that has inspired the whole of world football.

Kit

No team anywhere in the world has such an elegant kit. The red shirts and white sleeves have been copied but never bettered!

Financial Dealings

I don’t believe any club in world football has been entirely honourable in their financial dealings. That said, with the exception of the Graham Bung story, our club is world-renowned for its transparency in financial dealings and its unwillingness to get involved in the murkier transfer dealings. I believe that the owners of the club have always been keen to set the standard and operate as gentlemen. Long may it continue!

Scintillating football[b]

Aside from Barcelona and the current Spanish national team- which current team can compare to the mighty Arsenal for attacking fluency? The oohs and aahs than emanate from the stadium and pubs across the country are testament to the “fantasy” of our players and the vision of our manager.

[b]Amazing Youth system

We produce more first team top level footballers from our youth team than any other in the country. West Ham and Manchester United may feel they have a claim but neither have a next generation as promising as ours.

Beautiful stadium

The Mothership! The beautiful, curvaceous, state of the art arena which we now call our home. It needed to be to follow on from the uniqueness of Highbury.

Heroes

We all have our favourites and I’m not old enough to talk of the players from the 70s and early 80s. But there are so many! All teams have their heroes but does any team treat their heroes with such devotion? Two that strike a particular chord are Rocky whose song still echoes around the ground on most matchdays and Eduardo’s reception on scoring a late goal in our recent Champions League encounter with Shaktar. You wouldn’t want to play for any other club would you? If you hear our ex-players talking about Arsenal you would be forced to agree.

[b]Villains

There’s just something about the way we treat our villains- from Totnum to Cashley. There is so much humour and banter and very little true bile. Yes we hate them, but we’re secure enough in our own identity not to take it to extremes.

Barcelona playmaker Xavi has told Eurosport that he believes Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas's "biggest dream" is to return to the Camp Nou.
Speaking exclusively in an extensive interview to be broadcast on Monday night, the 31-year-old claimed that his fellow Spain international wants to return to the club where he was raised as a youth player before joining the Gunners aged 16.
Fabregas, who won the World Cup last summer alongside eight Barcelona players, has long been linked with a move back to Catalonia, and he revealed before the tournament in South Africa that he would welcome the transfer but that the final decision rested with manager Arsene Wenger.
Asked if Fabregas would one day play for Barca, Xavi said: "I believe so. I do, because it's his wish to do it.
"I believe in life your dreams are above all, and his biggest dream is to be back at Barcelona. Arsenal have to find a financial agreement with Barcelona but Cesc's dream - and he said it publicly - is to play and triumph with Barcelona.
"He's triumphing at Arsenal where he is captain, and he's still very young, he still has many years in front of him.
"He would adapt very easily at Barcelona. In fact, he grew up here in camp Barca, he has Barca DNA, and I would like to see him here. But it not only depends on us or him - it also depends on the clubs."
Xavi, who was on the three-man shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d'Or along with team-mates Andres Iniesta and winner Lionel Messi, shrugged off talk that 23-year-old Fabregas would be his successor, instead insisting that the pair could replicate their international partnership at club level.
He said: "It depends on when he will be coming. It will depend on my age. I don't know. I feel very good here now, and if Cesc comes I think we can play perfectly together like we do in the national team.
"I always say the same thing: my game is made of associations, and the more players with my style and my qualities that I have around me, the better it is for me."

Arsene Wenger has confirmed Wojciech Szczesny is Arsenal's "number one" but challenged fit-again Manuel Almunia to reclaim the role.

Almunia, 33, has not played since the end of September when he injured his elbow saving a penalty in the home defeat against West Brom, and then suffered an ankle problem when he was close to a return.

In the Spaniard's absence, Lukasz Fabianski, who has since picked up a shoulder injury, and then Szczesny impressed when stepping in between the posts.

Almunia has had offers to leave during January, from both Spain and Turkey, but could yet stay and battle to win his place back and is set to start against Huddersfield on Sunday.

"At the moment Wojciech is number one," Wenger said.

"He has done nothing for me to take him out, but I can rotate the goalkeepers.

"In the cups I play sometimes different goalkeepers as well."

Wenger paid tribute to Almunia's dedication.

"He is under contract and as long as he is at the club we are happy to have him," the Arsenal manager said.

"I like him as a man and as a player and I have shown that in my decisions. I am happy that he is here."

Wenger added: "Almunia has not played for a long, long time. I don't feel that any player is happy not to play."

Arsene Wenger has hinted that he won't buy anyone in the transfer window. That is the most newsworthy line from AW's press conference today ahead of Sunday's cup game. These are the bullet points pinched from Arsenal.com as AW discusses all things Arsenal before Sunday's FA Cup clash with Huddersfield at the Emirates.