Wenger rues Wilshere absence

Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal could do with Jack Wilshere as he is currently short of options in midfield.

Wenger will be without Aaron Ramsey for three weeks as a result of the calf injury he picked up in the defeat to Watford on Tuesday, while Granit Xhaka is suspended for Saturday's Premier League clash with leaders Chelsea.

Wilshere is on a season-long loan at Bournemouth and, while he is confident he has plenty of options, Wenger admits he would like to have the England international at his disposal.

"We have agreed for him to go for one year on loan and we accept that," Wenger told reporters ahead of the trip to Stamford Bridge.

"Yes (we could do with him back at the moment) but I would like to reiterate that we didn't push him out – he wanted to go somewhere and play and I agreed with that.

"He wanted to go because of the level of competitive players we have in midfield. Let's not forget that at the moment we have Xhaka suspended.

"There is a huge level of competition and I accepted to let him go. We have to deal with the consequences of that.

"Yes, we are a bit short at the moment, but I think we have young players who can do well in there.

"We have Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, we have Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who can play in there. Mohamed Elneny will come back after the weekend so we still have some strengths. So we should be okay in there."

Arsenal are ten points behind Chelsea ahead of Saturday's game and Wenger is looking for an immediate response on the back of the shock defeat to Watford.

"The most important thing is we turn up with a positive performance. We have shown we can beat Chelsea in the first game, so let's turn up with the same quality and show a great response," he said.

"What is at stake here is how you respond in a united way and a very determined way. We will get there and play our game.

"Naturally we will be more on alert than we were against Watford. Overall I believe in this game we have to rebuild united strengths to go into this game and be on the edge of our concentration."

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