Arsenal Injury News: Jack Wilshere Out But Arsene Wenger Claims Problems Nearing 'End of the Tunnel'

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere will not feature against Anderlecht in the Champions League tie on Tuesday 4 November due to illness but manager Arsene Wenger believes the club are coming to "the end of the tunnel" following their injury problems.

Wilshere was available for the Premier League clash with Burnley on Saturday 1 November after serving a suspension but was ruled out of the 3-0 win after suffering a minor knee problem on Friday.

While there was no suggestion of any injury issue, Wenger confirmed the England international will miss the visit of the Belgian champions through illness although the Frenchman believes he will recover this week.

Although Aaron Ramsey had also been out of action after suffering from a virus, Wenger is optimistic over the general fitness of his squad as their lengthy injury list begins to reduce.

He said: "Yes, we have had a lot of long-term injuries, we had [Olivier] Giroud, Theo [Walcott], [Mathieu] Debuchy, [Mesut] Ozil, but we are now slowly all getting better. I believe we at the end of the tunnel."

In the absence of Giroud and Ramsey, £32m signing Alexis Sanchez has provided the Gunners with a cutting edge up-front after netting his ninth and 10<sup>th goals of the season at the weekend.

The Chilean international's adaption to the Premier League has somewhat surprised and delighted his manager, who has been impressed by his battling qualities in a new league.

"We had a difficult start integrating him into the team and now he has shown how good he is," Wenger said. "What you want from a top player is not just individual quality but to show they are fighter, and he has done that."

In another boost to the manager's plans, Theo Walcott provided a bright performance in his return from an eight-month lay-off on Saturday, almost crowning his comeback with a goal.

The 25-year-old returned to training last month but Wenger opted to delay his comeback to the first team. Satisfied with the winger's condition, Wenger is happy for the player to feature in the England squad for the upcoming European Championship qualifiers – the squad for which will be announced on Thursday 6 November – believing more football to be exactly what he needs.

Wenger said: "I'm happy for him to go with England as that is a rest period for people here, and in that time with England he'll be training."