By ANTONY KASTRINAKIS
JACK WILSHERE is back all right but for Arsenal fans this was like a Gillette ad — a close shave.
Mikel Arteta grabbed a controversial late winner but Gooners will rightly be asking: Is this the best Arsenal can get?
For all the drama that unfolded at the Emirates it was painfully obvious Arsenal are a team struggling for confidence and inspiration.
Rangers are struggling. Full stop.
Arteta clinched victory but the Gunners can hardly bask in the glory.
Arsenal rode their luck and QPR have only themselves — and stupid Stephane Mbia — to blame for missing out on the chance of a draw.
The Gunners edged it only after Mbia saw red for his moment of madness 10 minutes from time.
Having won a free-kick, the centre-half kicked out at Thomas Vermaelen and gave ref Anthony Taylor no option.
A grandstand finale saw Julio Cesar produce three world-class saves — and he was only beaten by Arteta, who was offside.
Arsenal were a club on the verge of a crisis after a week when defeats by Norwich and Schalke were followed by an explosive AGM where majority shareholder Stan Kroenke and £2.15m-a-year chief executive Ivan Gazidis faced fans’ wrath.
Kroenke made a rare appearance in the stands in the first half yesterday but missed Arteta’s winner as he left early.
Yet he did not leave to avoid being booed — he had to attend a function at the US Embassy with the St Louis Rams, his NFL team who play at Wembley today.
Wenger gave Wilshere his first league start for 17 months and the England star’s touch and control were a breath of fresh air.
Bacary Sagna was also back five months after his broken leg to give the Gunners a sense of purpose down the channels.
Wilshere settled in straight away. After three minutes Lukas Podolski sent Arsenal’s No 10 on the overlap and he delivered a lethal cut-back but neither Olivier Giroud nor Santi Cazorla could get there.
Cesar produced the first of many stops when Andre Santos squared, Mbia turned the ball towards his own net.
Wilshere fed Sagna, who crossed for Aaron Ramsey to direct a looping header over Cesar but the ball bounced off the top of the bar.
Within 11 minutes Arsenal had fashioned more chances than their combined total against Norwich and Schalke.
After 19 minutes Wilshere went on a sizzling run and let fly, Cesar spilled the ball but scrambled to gather ahead of Cazorla.
Two minutes after the restart the crowd were silenced as Wilshere went down clutching his ankle. Esteban Granero could easily have seen red, never mind a yellow but Taylor fudged it.
Arteta swung in the free-kick, Per Mertesacker’s header hit Bobby Zamora’s back and Cesar took off again to save. Ironically, Granero was then wrongly booked for a non-foul on Wilshere.
Theo Walcott made his return following a chest injury, coming on for Wilshere with 23 minutes left. Though Wilshere played well, Arsenal immediately perked up as Walcott added pace.
With 13 minutes left Walcott crossed but Cazorla cleared the bar from eight yards out. Then Giroud saw a header magnificently saved by Cesar.
The ball fell to Ramsey who pushed it on to Arteta — who was offside. His header hit the bar but he nodded in the rebound.
Mark Hughes fumed: “I’ve seen it. Arteta is offside twice. How the referee hasn’t given us a decision I’ve no idea.
“We’ve asked for an explanation and he’s come up with some story about Ryan Nelsen leaving the field of play so that played everybody onside. I’ve no idea what he’s on about.”
With time running out Cesar tipped away Ramsey’s rasper and kept out Cazorla’s effort.
Right at the death Adel Taarabt’s pass split the Arsenal defence in two, Granero was clear, but sliced his effort wide.
Jamie Mackie then stormed past Arteta, Santos and Vermaelen but from two yards out he could not beat Vito Mannone.
