Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes that while Jack Wilshere's injury is "not welcome" by the club, it could be a nice "breather" for the midfielder.

The Frenchman confirmed this morning that the England international will be sidelined for three weeks due to an inflamed ankle, which Wenger has confirmed is not a reaction to Wilshere's previous injury that kept him out of action for over a year.

"I could see in the last couple of games he had started to dig deep," Wenger said in a press conference. "He has played 30 games. For us it is not welcome but maybe for him it is not bad that he has a little breather.

"It is more about prevention. The specialist decided he needed it. He has some bone bruising. The last time it deteriorated into a stress fracture. That's what we don't want to happen.

"We trust people who are specialists in this area. He was out for 17 months and we had to deal with it, we must be able to deal with it for two or three games."

Wilshere will miss Arsenal's Champions League second leg against Bayern Munich, as well as England's World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Montenegro.