A lot of potential, a lot of promise, but Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere just hasna t been able to fulfill anything yet. Wilshere has, in fact, become a source of frustration for many Arsenal fans who had hoped that the midfielder would be their new Patrick Veira and bring back the glory years.
While some of the criticism leveled at Wilshere is due to his erratic performances on the pitch, most of it is because of the fact that he is quite an injury prone player. And that problem reared its ugly head yet once more this season, when Wilshere suffered from an ankle injury earlier in the season in a home game against Manchester United.
The 23 year-old has been out of action since then and only returned to the bench against Crystal Palace on the weekend. The return to action, though, was short-lived as he felt some niggling pain in the ankle, forcing him to undergo yet another surgery on it.
Manager Arsene Wenger, however, revealed that it is only a minor surgery and Wilshere should be back soon.
Wenger said: a He had a little surgery to take two studs off (the screws in) his ankle because they were irritating him. Very minor procedure. Out for a few days.
a It was planned to be done at the end of the season. But because he had an irritation with it we decided to do it now.
“It’s just for a few days. I don’t know exactly when he will be back but it’s days, not weeks.a
Midfield duo Aaron Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini are a nearly therea after their hamstring injuries while long-term absentees Mikel Arteta (ankle) and Mathieu Debuchy (shoulder) remain a still a few weeks awaya .
Arsenal are set to take on Everton on Sunday, and the Frenchman was keen to focus on the game and forget about Wednesdaya s shambolic home defeat to Monaco.
a I said what I had to say after the game and I maintain exactly what I said. What is important now is to respond well.
a On Sunday, that’s all we can do. We are on a strong run in the Premier League. It’s a different competition.
“We are back in the top three in the Premier League and we have an opportunity to stabilise that position and we want to take it.
a We have to live with that (extreme reactions with Arsenal). What is important is to give a strong response.
“We are a club that interests a lot of people and that gives us a stronger responsibility. When you come out of a game like that you don’t expect people to applaud, it’s absolutely normal to get criticised.a
As always, Wenger got behind his players, backing out of form striker Olivier Giroud who missed several gilt-edge chances against Monaco.
Wenger said: a He’s like everybody else: disappointed, There is nobody to blame individually. Every striker misses chances. For us on the night everything went against us.
a The fact that he missed some chances was only one of the characteristics of the night.
a He’s a strong character, Olivier. Personally I don’t blame him at all. We lost as a team. We fought for each other as a team.
a He worked hard on the night, he didn’t miss the chances on purpose, he wanted to score the goals but this can happen.a