Battle of London Part I - Aaron Ramsey v Jack Wilshere

Two of the Capital’s most promising young stars will go head to head as England travel to Wales for Saturday’s Euro 2012 qualifier.

Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey appeared in midfield unison as Arsenal played West Brom last weekend but club loyalties will be left in London as the all-action duo look to claim the bragging rights at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

At 20, Ramsey has a year on Wilshere and both have amassed over a half-century of appearances for the Gunners to date. Yet it will be the Englishman who goes into the game in the best shape having been a mainstay in his club’s current title-contesting campaign.

Ex-Cardiff city star Ramsey has only recently returned from a month-long, fitness-boosting loan spell at his former club, as he recovers from an horrific double leg fracture in February last year.

The precocious pair are being developed to provide the heartbeat of the Arsenal side for the next decade and both combine high-energy endeavour with technical excellence. With English – and British football in general – much-maligned for a lack of reliance on the slighter, more subtle ball players preferred by much of the rest of the world, here are two young players who are as comfortable navigating a solo path past a crowd of opponents as they are taking the more direct approach.

Both can tackle, although in Wilshere’s case, a little rashly at times, both have a range of passing to envy and both know the way to goal. Ramsey can probably claim to be the better athlete when fully fit and is also more inclined to make use of his weaker foot. The Welshman has 5 goals from 23 starts in all competitions to Wilshere’s three from 43 respectively. Ramsey is also more experienced on the international stage having clocked up 11 caps and two goals. Wilshere has just two England appearances under his belt and has yet to find the net at international level.

But when it comes to carving apart a defence with a cunning pass, Wilshere appears a class apart. Having produced man-of-the-match performances in Arsenal’s win over Barcelona in February and the Carling Cup Final at Wembley later in the month, Wilshere has shown he thrives on the big stage. Yet if ‘Rambo’, as Ramsey is known around London Colney, can recapture the kind of form he showed before his injury, Wales’ hopes of a win would not seem as far-fetched as most would have you believe.

With two such gifted, box-to-box midfielders on show, who provides the knockout performance is anyone’s guess.