Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger revealed a few weeks ago that Jack Wilshere was set to spend more time on the sidelines after facing a setback in his attempts to come back. Wilshere has not played for the club since November 2014.

However, Wenger revealed that the midfielder has suffered a setback and will be undergoing an ankle surgery in order to help him regain his fitness in the best possible way. Speaking ahead of the match with QPR on Wednesday night, Wenger said that he is almost sure that Wilshere will not be fit in time to face Manchester United this weekend.

Arsenal will be travelling to Old Trafford in order to take on the Red Devils in the FA Cup quarter-finals. As with defending champions of the trophy, Arsenal will be looking to put a major fight. However, they have recently been second best when it comes to matches against the big teams. The recent 2-0 win over Manchester City stands out from the crowd of mediocre performances against top teams. Wenger may decide to adopt tactics similar to those used in the win against City. This would help him overcome an injury ravaged team, which is also missing the likes of Matthew Flamini.

“I cannot set any date, but what is for sure is for Manchester United he will not be available.Wilshere is doing well but he will take some time to heal the wound after surgery and it will take him a few days.His energy level, his transitional play from offence to defence and from defence to attack, and his box to box quality.With a repetition of muscular injury it can put a little bit of a handbrake on your body, and to get rid of that is a psychological problem,” said Wenger about the fitness of his star midfielder.