England manager Roy Hodgson defends Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere smoking

England manager Roy Hodgson has defended Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere after he was caught up in another smoking controversy earlier in February.

The 23-year-old was pictured in a nightclub holding a shisha pipe, the third time the Gunners star has been caught smoking in public in the past 15 months, and has drawn question of the player's off-the-field behaviour.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has told Wilshere to "master his life" having previously stated the act was "totally unacceptable" but Hodgson says the issue is with his club.

"As an ex-cigar smoker, when I tried it [shisha] I thought it was a complete nonsense, I couldn't understand who would do it," Hodgson told reporters.

"Apart from a faint fruity taste in your mouth, that was about the end of it. As far as I am concerned, that is a club matter and Arsene Wenger dealt with it very, very well.

"If you are asking me, in an ideal world is that an ideal thing to happen? Of course it isn't, but we don't live in an ideal world.

"I am happy it has been dealt with and it won't occupy a lot of my time with Jack when I see him because we have a football match to win.

"I am more interested in working with him to get some performances out of him that he gave us in the autumn. Which were outstanding. It's a part of my life but it's an even bigger part of Arsene's."

Wilshere was pictured smoking outside a nightclub in October 2013, an incident that sparked outrage from Wenger who pledged to speak with the Arsenal man over the episode.

But in the summer of 2014, Wilshere was again spotted smoking, that time while on holiday, and the incident at the start of February following the Super Bowl final has sparked further fears the player is inflicting long-term damage upon himself.