The emergence of Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott (when he's not been injured) this season has come with no surprise regarding the former and some regarding the latter. Anyone who saw Wilshere's Carling Cup appearances in previous seasons was aware of his potential and his performances this season have led to the predictable rise in intense media scrutiny that follows any player who shows even a modicum of talent and happens to be English. Already stories of alleged nightclub brawls (Wilshere may have cleared of any actual wrongdoing but since when has the truth been an obstacle for the tabloids?) have surfaced, followed by the red card against Bolton and now he's scored his first league goal, I expect the 'New Scholes' comparison to resurface, followed by the hysteria when he has the audacity to not play well from time to time or when he's back from an injury.

With the first goal under his belt, The Sun will probably expect him to go on to be a hybrid of Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard rolled into one. We've seen exactly the same thing with Walcott - being touted as 'The New Henry' when he plays well followed by every footballing rent-a-gob having their two cents when he hasn't played so well. For some reason Kieran Gibbs hasn't necessarily attracted as much hype as Wilshere or Walcott but the 'New Ashley Cole' tag has still predictably been banded about, even if there are fair comparisons on the pitch. He could also be compared to Nigel Winterburn given that he's a left-back who was signed from Wimbledon but I'm sure he knows it will take time to be compared to the greatest left-back in AFC's history.

Being half-Welsh, I'm glad to see the likes of Ramsey and Bale coming through the ranks in the Premiership as it gives me hope for the future of the national team, begrudgingly even if the latter does happen to be doing so in N17. I only hope there's more of their calibre to be discovered the other side of the Severn as I would love to see Wales in a major tournament at some point in my life. But this is not my only reason for wishing that Walcott, Wilshere and Gibbs were from the land of mine, Elvis' and Abe Lincoln’s ancestors (and Bob Marley’s as well, according to some rumours).

Before he had the misfortune of having his leg broken by St. Ryan Ghandi Shawcross, Ramsey was coming along nicely. Finally, a promising Welsh talent in an Arsenal shirt. Don't get me wrong, as a kid I used to actually like John Hartson (and was glad to hear he made a full recovery recently) because even though he had a tendency to give away free-kicks and tell referees to f*** off, you couldn't really fault him for effort or commitment and he did score a couple of beauties in his limited time at the club. But Ramsey is obviously more exciting a prospect than Big John was and his run of form leading up to that game certainly indicated that. As he's only human, there were previous games where he didn't necessarily have a blinder.

When I saw him in Eduardo's comeback game in the reserves, he did not have the best of games and there were a few times when he took the ball into attacking dead ends a la Hleb. But given that he was only 17 and it was a reserve game against Portsmouth on a cold December night, I obviously didn't see it as any sort of indicator of how he would turn out and was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt as he had also shown promise in other games. And the media didn't really pay much attention to him apart from when he signed, mainly because he was Welsh and was therefore of no significance to the future of the England team.

Endorsements from the likes of Giggs, Hughes and other significant Welshmen in the game meant that whilst the Welsh may have been quietly confident of Ramsey's prospects, they weren't being led to believe that he could not only lead their country to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in over 50 years but win it as well or any other ridiculous hyped-up expectations. So Ramsey was able to quietly go about honing his ability and developing at a steady pace without the ridiculous media hysteria that has gone hand-in-hand with Walcott’s development and most likely Wilshere’s too from now on.

For someone who's only 21, Walcott has had to endure absurd expectations and been subject to unfair and unconstructive criticism from the likes of Hansen (because God forbid Walcott should score a hat-trick against Blackpool and not Chelsea or Barcelona) and Waddle, someone whose 'footballing brain' was at the same level as Sarah Palin's* actual brain when it came to getting that penalty on target. Ramsey has not had to endure anything near that level of scrutiny and the same goes for Bale. He signed for Spurs four years ago and while some early performances were possibly patchy at times, this season he has stepped up a level and then some with some eye-catching performances. 'Arry and Bale's team-mates were probably aware of what he was capable of but it took until this season for him to fully realise it on the pitch and he has done so as a result of being able to learn and go about his business.

Now I'm glad that there are more promising young English players at Arsenal than there have been in the past. Ultimately Wenger has been proved right in letting previous English players go because Cashley was the only one in that time who was good enough, which is why he left for Chelsea and the rest have pursued careers at lesser sides. Arsenal are an English club and it's always nice to see local boys come good. But I just wish they could do so without such hype.

* In the past, I have said some pretty uncomplementary remarks about Kim Jong Il, calling him a snooker-player-glasses-wearing, nuke-testing, oppressive prick with a psychotic case of short man syndrome, even going as far as to compare him to his fellow annoying midget Noel Edmonds. Given that Sarah Palin has confirmed that North Korea are now allies, this may well be the last article I write before the secret police arrest me. Consequentially, it could also lead to more players ending up on the 'injury' list, so my apologies in advance. That said, the short-arsed dictatorial one would probably be quite impressed with some of the stewarding staff at The E*******. Or Sarah Palin could just be a complete idiot and got it wrong, I don't know.