Ashburton Grove got its first taste of football for the season as Arsenal hosted the Emirates Cup pre-season tournament. The Gunners took on Athletico Madrid and Glasgow Rangers in this semi-round-robin competition and took the trophy after notching up victories in both their games over the weekend. Whilst these matches tell us next to nothing about how the season will eventually turn out, there were a few interesting pointers and individual cameos for supporters to chew on.

On Saturday, it was fantastic to see Tomas Rosicky taking his place in the starting eleven and playing his first full half of football in front of his home crowd for what has seemed like an age. In fact, it has been an age. January 2008 was the last time Arsenal fans saw him in first-team action and it has been a long wait for both the player and the supporters to see him make his comeback.

The Czech international was deployed in a central midfield role against Athletico and made a bright start. Hearteningly, he was involved in a few challenges and showed no lack of appetite for putting himself into physical situations. Many have suspected that his best position is playing more centrally, just behind the strikers, rather in than out wide and, though his return on Saturday was more steady than spectacular, he did look particularly comfortable in the role he was given. Rosicky will provide the manager with a range of midfield options in the upcoming season that have not been at his disposals for nearly 18 months now.

It was also interesting to see Arsene Wenger setting his teams for the weekend up in a far more interchangeable formation than the highly dependable 4-4-2 that was his hallmark during his earlier years at the club. Last season he experimented an awful lot with five in midfield but this rarely resulted in the sort of free-running from central positions that was hoped for. Instead, it seemed to discourage the midfielders from over-committing themselves forward and, generally, appeared to be a more "safety first" approach. Over the weekend a slightly more fluid version of the five in midfield formation was adopted, which looked more like 4-3-3 when the team was going forward but reverted to 4-5-1 when the team were on the defensive. It remains to be seen whether this will become the standard set-up for the season but it is clearly something that is emerging as something of a theme in the pre-season games to date.

Star of the weekend show though was undoubtedly Jack Wilshere. Arsenal fans have been aware of this boy for several years now and, over the two Emirates Cup matches, he announced himself to the wider football public in some style and earned himself the honour of being named "Man of the Match" on both days. On Saturday, he entered the fray at half-time and, during the second period, lit up what had been a fairly drab match. The next day, he again shone and netted himself a couple of goals in the victory over Rangers.

Inevitably, he received rave reviews from the media following the match and in this morning’s newspapers. In response to one moronic journalist who asked him if he was aiming to get into England’s World Cup team for next summer, the young man from Hertfordshire proved he had a sensible head on his shoulders by replying that he had to get into the Arsenal team first. Arsene Wenger was clearly delighted with Wilshere’s performances but was quick to try to neutralise any over-reaction by the press - and he was right to do so in order take unnecessary pressure and expectation off the lad’s shoulders. One wonders though what the manager's plans for this young man over the coming season really are.

Arsene Wenger is a man who is renowned hiding his true feelings and intentions behind what he might actually say to the media. When he says he didn’t see a controversial incident during a match, what he actually means is: “I don’t want to talk about what happened”. When he says the squad is strong enough and there is no pressure to add to it, what he actually means is: “Of course I am looking for new players but I am not going to announce to other clubs and players’ agents that I have a transfer kitty of millions burning a hole in my pocket so they can rack up their prices”. Hopefully, when he talks about not rushing Jack Wilshere along in his development what he actually means is: “I believed in Cesc Fabregas enough to throw him in at the deep-end and Jack Wilshere is definitely as special as him”.

And, make no mistake about it, Jack Wilshere is special and needs to be fast-tracked to first team action. Those who have seen him play against his own age group know that he has out-grown youth football and now needs the challenge of playing against full and seasoned professionals. He may not be in the starting-eleven every week but there is no doubt that he deserves a regular place on the bench. Over the past year, he has increased his physical strength and his low centre of gravity allows him to simply ghost past defenders. His vision and passing is instinctive and he is one of those players who seems very hard to dispossess. In terms of pure natural ability, he already surpasses most of the younger players that Wenger has been happy to give innumerable starts to over the past two or three seasons. Though pundits are often prone to over-exaggerate a young player as the “next big thing”, with Wilshere the hype is entirely justified and he more than deserves his chance this season.

So, despite there being plenty of positives over the weekend, (and, in fairness, a few negatives too – the defence still looked like it needed bolstering), the real test for this squad begins at Goodison Park in a fortnight. The Gunners have a tough start, particularly away from home, and need to hit the ground running. Still, the Emirates Cup proved to be a pleasant appetiser for the forthcoming season and there were signs that perhaps the club is not in the dire straits that some seemed to claim.