Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere considers January exit as Alexis Sanchez and Shkodran Mustafi suffer blows

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is reportedly eyeing up a move away from the club in January in a bid to force his way into England’s World Cup squad.

The 25-year-old has not played a Premier League game so far this season after returning from his loan spell at Bournemouth and has not featured for England since the Euro 2016 defeat to Iceland.

Wilshere is concerned that he will not get enough playing time in north London in order to prove to Gareth Southgate he should be on the plane to Russia, according to the Times.

In public, the midfielder has been more positive about Arsenal’s season, saying the team is now beginning to emulate the Invicibles squad of 2003/04.

“The boss decided to change the shape last year, it worked well and he’s stuck with it,” he told the club's official website.

“We’ve improved defensively as a team. In that transition when we lose the ball, we want to win it back quickly like the best Arsenal teams over the years.

“The Invincibles were great at it because they’d lose the ball but then win it higher up and we’d be in a dangerous position. That’s probably the best change [I have seen].”

Any hopes of maintaining the kind of run that Wenger’s finest Arsenal team could put together have been compromised by the mounting sick list in north London however.

Shkodran Mustafi’s hamstring injury means Arsenal could be struggling for options at centre-back when they take on Watford this weekend.

Laurent Koscielny (Achilles) and Calum Chambers (groin) are also doubts, meaning Wenger will have to choose a back three from Nacho Monreal, Per Mertesacker, Rob Holding and Sead Kolasinac.

Another to suffer a blow on international duty – albeit for a different kind of reason – was Alexis Sanchez.

Chile’s ageing golden generation will miss out on next year’s World Cup in Russia after losing 3-0 to Brazil.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. Chile could have still progressed had it not been for Arsenal reserve goalkeeper David Ospina forgetting the rule about indirect free-kicks during Colombia’s 1-1 draw with Peru: Chile missed out on qualification on goal difference.

Sanchez’s mood may have been boosted by rumours suggesting Manchester City are ready to buy him from Arsenal in January even though they could get him on a free at the end of the season.

Mesut Ozil will have been less impressed by reports suggesting that he will have to stay in north London because no other club in world football is prepared to meet his £330,000-a-week wage demands.

The German midfielder is said to have turned down an offer of £250,000-a-week from Arsenal in the summer and it is now being suggested that he may be forced into an embarrassing U-turn.

Staying at Arsenal would be a good decision according to former Liverpool and Germany forward Karl-Heinz Riedle.

“Ozil going back to Germany? Who knows,” Riedle told Omnisport. “There’s a rumour that he goes to Manchester United. He shouldn’t do it.

“Ozil is a quality player. If you see his skills, it’s just amazing what he can do on the pitch. We would be very happy if he comes back to a club in Germany, for sure. But I’m not his agent so I don’t know where he ends up.

“Best option is if he would, from my point, if he would come to the Bundesliga. It’s a really good option because we get another national player back in our league.

“But if he is looking only for the money, then it would be very difficult to find the same kind of money in the German league than he can find in the Premier League.”

And finally… Alexandre Lacazette very nearly became a goalkeeper until his mother staged an intervention.

"My favourite position was always as a centre forward or striker," the striker told the club website.

“I did like playing in goal too but my mum wasn't very keen as she thought being a goalie was too dangerous!

“She said that I either played as a forward or not at all.”

The rest, as they say, is history.