Football
Kevin Palmer 9y

'Sick' Jack Wilshere ruled out of Arsenal's UCL clash with Anderlecht

Jack Wilshere is out of Tuesday's Champions League match against Anderlecht after the midfielder fell victim to a virus sweeping through the club, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed.

Aaron Ramsey was struck down by the bug last week and missed Saturday's game against Burnley, and Wilshere now joins him on the sidelines with an illness that Wenger hopes will not keep either player out of action for too long.

"Jack has been sick and he will not be involved [against Anderlecht]," confirmed Wenger, who was then asked whether a virus was working its way through his squad.

"Apparently, yes," he said. "We had nobody else sick, but Ramsey last week and Wilshere as well."

Wenger offered a more upbeat assessment on the conditions of several injured first-team players, whose collective absence has undermined Arsenal's efforts so far this season.

"We had a lot of long-term injuries," confirmed Wenger. "We had Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Mathieu Debuchy and Mesut Ozil injured but they are slowly all getting better. Theo [Walcott] is the first to come back but I believe we are at the end of the tunnel."

The Arsenal boss confirmed that the rest of his squad that beat Burnley are available for the game against Anderlecht.

Wenger went to suggest that Ramsey's injury problems had affected his form in recent weeks, and insisted the club's 2013-14 Player of the Season will get back to his best if he can enjoy a run in the side.

"He's running after consistency," stressed Wenger. "He's one of the players who has been very efficient last season. Since the start of the season, he has not had a consistent run. He's now coming back, but he's not found the level that we are used to from him."

Wenger added that Anderlecht will provide his Arsenal team with a stern test of their Champions League credentials, after they were pushed all the way by the Belgian champions in Brussels two weeks ago before the Gunners came from behind late on to claim a 2-1 win.

"We respect them because they gave us a tough game," he added. "We had a bit of a miraculous win because we needed to go until the last minute, but that also showed our quality in that game.

"We have been warned and we have learned a lot from this game and we want to win the game at the Emirates."

The Gunners are second in Group D having collected six points from three games, and currently sit three points behind group leaders Borussia Dortmund.

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