GERRARD BACKS WILSHERE

Jack Wilshere is regarded as one of the brightest talents that English football has right now. Steven Gerrard praised the 21-year-old by saying that he could become the next captain of the England national team. Wilshere made his debut for the national team as an 18-year-old, while he will be taking part in his first World Cup tournament as a regular this time around. Even though he is only 21, Wilshere is expected to play an important role in the England team at the 2014 World Cup.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, though, has called for Roy Hodgson to utilise his star player more carefully by not selecting him for meaningless friendly matches. England will be playing in friendlies against Germany and Chile in this latest international break. Wilshere has missed large chunks of the last few seasons due to injury, and Wenger has recalled his in order to stress the fact that he should be given as much rest as possible.

Wenger has said that Hodgson should think about using Wilshere in just one of the two friendly matches that England are set to play in the next few days. They will first take on South American team Chile before the high-profile match against Germany. Due to the fact that England will be without Michael Carrick, Hodgson may be forced to use Wilshere in both matches.

“I have been carrying the injury for a few weeks now. I was a bit patched up to play on Sunday. I got through it but it doesn’t look too good,” said Carrick after the news that he had suffered an injury following the 1-0 win over Arsenal. He is set to miss the next six weeks of action for Manchester United, which will mean that he may be unavailable for the Christmas period.