Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that he may have overplayed Jack Wilshere this season, following news that the midfielder will miss the next three weeks of action.
The 21-year-old will sit out the second leg of the Gunners' Champions League last-16 clash with Bayern Munich on Wednesday after suffering an inflamed ankle.
However, Wenger is adamant that the rest will help the England international in the long term.
"Maybe I overplayed him, but only in the last two games," the Daily Mail quotes him as saying. "It is difficult to rest him because he is a winner and when you ask how he feels, he says 'perfect'.
"If he did not have a history, you could say he could go on, but the specialist said he should stop. It is more about prevention. We trust people who are specialists in this area and they told us we have to stop him for a short period.
"We do scans and he has some inflammation on his heel. The last time we let him carry on, it turned into a stress fracture. Maybe it can be good for him to have a little breather. It is not welcome, but it is the right thing to do."
Wojciech Szczesny, Lukas Podolski and Bacary Sagna will also miss the trip to Germany.
Matt Cotton
