• Premier League

Wenger: No problem over Wilshere

ESPN staff
November 21, 2013
Arsene Wenger is not angry with Roy Hodgson despite reports © Getty Images
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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has dismissed reports that he is frustrated with England boss Roy Hodgson over his use of midfielder Jack Wilshere in the friendly internationals against Chile and Germany.

Newspaper claims on Thursday stated Wenger had asked Hodgson to only play his 21-year-old midfielder in one of the two friendly games as he continues to nurse an ongoing ankle problem.

The reports also stated Wilshere, who on Thursday revealed he fears missing out on the World Cup squad, had returned to his club with a fresh problem, but both of those claims have been swiftly dismissed by Wenger, and he insists Hodgson kept to the deal he struck with Arsenal's medical staff.

"First of all Jack is not injured, that was not the right information," Wenger told Arsenal's official website. "Secondly, I have no problem with the FA.

"They respected completely what they told me and it was [for Wilshere] to play in one game and be on the bench in the other. They did that very well. So there is no misunderstanding there."

Meanwhile, Wenger was delighted to toast his nation's dramatic success in qualifying for next summer's World Cup finals, even though it will mean Arsenal stars Olivier Giroud, Bacary Sagna and Laurent Koscielny will face a hectic 2014.

"I have a smile on my face because first it was a relief [for France] to go through," Wenger said. "It's positive for France because it was a big relief and the country needed it.

"You have to give credit to Ukraine, they were unlucky because they got a man sent off and they conceded an offside goal. Overall you could not forget that Ukraine gave a fantastic resistance.

"There is a lot of unrest between the French national team and the country, since South Africa [at the 2010 World Cup], and that they could turn a situation like that in a positive way will help people to love the national team again."

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