SIDELINED: Wilshere faces another stint on the injury table [Getty]

The Gunners insisted the England midfielder will only be absent for days rather than weeks after having two tiny buttons and a fibrewire suture removed which were helping his ankle bone heal.“They were irritating him but it’s a very minor procedure,” said boss Arsene Wenger. “He’ll be out for a few days.”But Arsenal fans will be pessimistic about Wilshere being back so quickly after the nightmare time he has suffered with problems with both ankles.

AGONY: Wilshere has been out since being sidelined by Paddy McNair's tackle in November [Getty]

Starsport can reveal the new problem is the FOURTEENTH time the 23-year-old been troubled by his ankles.Wenger said: “It was planned to be done at the end of the season. “But because he had an irritation with it, we decided to do it now.“Next weekend will be a bit quick. I don’t know exactly. It’s days, not weeks.”Previously screws were used in an operation, but surgeons went for what is called ‘tightrope fixation’—a new implant technology involving a fiberwire suture and two buttons.

Wilshere was struck down again on November 22 but looked to be on his way back when he was an unused sub at Crystal Palace last Saturday.Frenchman Wenger insisted he wanted to look ahead to Sunday’s visit of Everton rather than dwell on Wednesday’s dismal 3-1 home defeat by Monaco in the Champions League.“For us what is important is to respond well,” he added. “We are in a strong run in the Premier League and we have to respond to that disappointment in a strong way on Sunday afternoon, that’s all we can do.“(I’m looking for) a strong one because it’s a different competition. We are back in the top three in the Premier League, we have an opportunity to stabilise this position and we want to take it.”

He also defended striker Olivier Giroud, who had a stinker against Monaco.“He’s like everybody else - disappointed,” added Wenger. “There’s nobody to blame individually. Who is a striker who didn’t miss a chance?“He had his chances and he missed it. For us on the night, everything went against us. The fact that we missed some chances was only one of the characteristics of the night.“He’s a strong character, Olivier. Personally I don’t blame him at all. We lost as a team, we fight for each other as a team and he worked hard for the team even on the night.“He didn’t miss the chances on purpose. He wanted to score the goals but that can happen.”