Bayern Munich Vs Arsenal Preview : It's not mission impossible

Bayern Munich v Arsenal: influential midfielder Jack Wilshere out of Champions League tie with ankle injury

Arsenal’s slim hopes of overturning a 3-1 deficit in their Champions League last-16 tie against Bayern Munich have suffered a significant setback, with midfielder Jack Wilshere ruled out of the game with an ankle injury.

Wilshere, Arsène Wenger’s most influential player, sustained the injury against Tottenham in the north London derby nine days ago and has been recuperating in Dubai.

He was still in the Emirate yesterday and, with Arsenal training at London Colney this morning before flying to Munich, he is not expected to make the trip to Germany.

Arsenal said last night that Wilshere had been in Dubai resting following the Spurs game and played down the seriousness of the injury.

Wenger will give an update on Wilshere’s progress this morning but there must now be a question mark over whether he will be available for Saturday’s league game against Swansea, and his fitness for the England squad that Roy Hodgson will reveal on Thursday.

Wilshere’s absence adds to the enormous scale of the task facing Wenger’s side at the Allianz Arena. Soundly beaten in the home leg at the Emirates, Wilshere’s creativity and poise was crucial to Arsenal’s chances of mounting what would be a remarkable comeback.

The midfielder was out for 14 months with injuries to his ankle and his return earlier this season immediately improved Arsenal’s prospects of returning to the Champions League with a top-four league finish.

Wilshere’s absence offsets the return of Kieran Gibbs, expected to come back for the game tomorrow .

Gibbs, 23, has not played since sustaining a thigh injury against Liverpool at the end of January, and his expected availability will ease Wenger’s selection headache as he ponders the hugely daunting task.

Gibbs’s absence, and the injury sustained by Bacary Sagna in the first leg, left Wenger facing a defensive crisis, with the manager pondering whether deploy centre-half Thomas Vermaelen at full-back once again.

Wenger was forced to do so in the first leg and saw his back four shredded by the Germans. The defence was also hugely vulnerable in Arsenal’s last game, the north London derby defeat to Tottenham, and will need to be far more impressive if Arsenal are to have any chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

Gibbs’s return would be a positive but Wenger still has to cope with the expected absence of Sagna on the other flank. Carl Jenkinson could come in having impressed against Tottenham, though Wenger was reluctant to play him in the first leg out of position at left-back.

Wenger has limited other options, with new signing Nacho Monreal ineligible for the Champions League as he face what many consider to be an impossible task.

Only twice in the history of the Champions League knockout stages have an English club overturned a first-leg home defeat, and on those two occasions they suffered only 1-0 defeats.

Bayern go into the game having won all four of their games, scoring 11 goals and conceding just three, since the teams last meant.

There was some positive news for Arsenal with news that Franck Ribery will not be available. The French forward suffered a ligament strain in his left ankle during his side’s 3-2 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday.

Arjen Robben is expected to replace Ribery, but midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and defender Jerome Boateng, who are banned, will also miss the match.