Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that Jack Wilshere's ankle needs constant attention.

The 22-year-old missed 17 months with a long-standing injury to his ankle, and although Wilshere is now fully fit, his boss revealed that the issue is something that has yet to totally be eradicated.

"It's difficult for us to find the right rhythm for him; before I always played him and people say I overplayed him," Wenger is quoted as saying by The Mirror.

"Now I try to be a bit more cautious. It's difficult because his ankle is up and down a little bit. He's getting better but it's still inflamed sometimes and responds ¬sometimes to games. But after that it goes down again and is normal.

"He will go through this period of stabilisation. It's going upwards but sometimes you wonder: 'Do I take a gamble or not?' But he's 22. He needs competition. I do what the medical people recommend with him because I am not a specialist. They are quite positive about him."

Arsenal are the current Premier League leaders.