Arsene Wenger mulls early recall of Germany stars to shore up shaky Arsenal

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admits he is considering bringing his German World Cup winners back into the squad ahead of schedule for the first leg of Tuesday’s Champions League play-off at Besiktas.

The Gunners travel to Turkey having made heavy weather of their opening Premier League fixture at home to managerless Crystal Palace, where a stoppage-time goal from Aaron Ramsey secured a 2-1 victory against a side reduced to 10 men.

Wenger had given German trio Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski extra time off following their nation’s triumph in Brazil last month.

But with Kieran Gibbs having suffered a hamstring injury against Palace and Jack Wilshere also taken off early following a heavy challenge, the Frenchman admitted he was tempted to issue a recall notice.

“The Champions League qualifier is a massive game for us against Besiktas, we have a short time to recover,” said Wenger.

“Normally the German players would not play in that game. We will have to see, but only in case of emergency.

“Because of the physicality and the organisation level of Crystal Palace it was very difficult for us. We conceded a goal from the first corner they had because we still lack a bit of pace in the final third when we build up into dangerous situations.

“But we kept going and it was enough to win the game. On the first day of the season we were the only team to win at home so that shows you it is difficult for everybody on the first day. We got the three points we wanted, let’s focus now on Besiktas.”