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Wilshere to miss cup tie at Reading

Jack Wilshere played 67 minutes against QPR © Getty Images

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Arsene Wenger will rest Jack Wilshere during Arsenal's midweek Capital One Cup tie at Reading, most likely with a view to playing him against Manchester United next weekend.

Wilshere returned to a competitive Gunners starting line-up for the first time in 17 months on Saturday, and he barely put a foot wrong as he completely 67 minutes before being replaced.

Arsenal eventually won the game without Wilshere, netting the winner six minutes from time through Mikel Arteta, and Wenger will now give his England international a week's break in order to recuperate.

"We have to see how he responds. After such a long time out, it goes a bit up and down," Wenger said. "What is good is that he got kicked today and had no problem. The rest will come with the games.

"Now, after a game like that, I will certainly not play him on Tuesday [against Reading in the Capital One Cup]. Will I play him [at Manchester United] next week? I don't know."

Wilshere said he was shocked to be recalled to the Arsenal starting line-up, but happy Wenger decided to bring him back against QPR.

"The boss came up to me and said he was going to start me from the start and I was shocked, to be honest,'' Wilshere told BBC Sport. "To be honest after 60 [minutes] I was cramping up. It was just literally my legs were going.

"It's great to be back, especially with the new team. Last time I played it was with [Cesc] Fabregas and [Samir] Nasri and now there's Arteta and [Santi] Cazorla so it's like a new team and a new me.

"It's been very tough for me, for any player who's been injured it's tough. Luckily for me I've got my family. I've got my son now who's helped me through it. You question yourself every day are you going to get back to that level? You have up days and you have down days.

"The fans have been great for me, they've been so positive. Even through the darkest times they really helped me.''

Wenger explained why he opted not to tell Wilshere about his starting role until the day of the game, claiming it helped the midfielder to avoid getting worked up about his comeback.

"I made the decision without telling him because when you have not played for such long time it is not always easy to deal with that and there is a high level of expectation when he goes on the pitch,'' Wenger said.

"I told him he was playing at 10.30am today. Sometimes I think it is better when you don't have much time to think about it when you have been out for a long time. I also felt the confidence of the team was a bit jaded and sometimes players with experience and quality give a bit of a lift as well.''

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