{"id":3075,"date":"2014-03-28T01:12:29","date_gmt":"2014-03-28T01:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/?p=3075"},"modified":"2014-03-28T01:12:29","modified_gmt":"2014-03-28T01:12:29","slug":"wilshere-sets-to-play-earlier-than-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/football\/wilshere-sets-to-play-earlier-than-expected\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilshere Sets To Play Earlier Than Expected"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Jack Wilshere has taken a significant step forward in his race to be fit for the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>The midfielder, 22, is recovering from a hairline fracture to his left foot sustained in a hefty challenge with Liverpool defender Daniel Agger in England\u2019s win over Denmark earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>It was feared the injury could rule Wilshere out of Arsenal\u2019s season finale and Brazil 2014.<\/p>\n<div>But he has begun gym work at the club\u2019s London Colney HQ and looks on course to play again before the end of the season.<\/div>\n<p>He is mainly having cardio-vascular sessions &#8211; working on his fitness on the treadmill, exercise bike and core strength routines.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the progress, Arsenal\u2019s medical team are taking a cautious approach to Wilshere\u2019s recovery plan, given his track record of injuries.\u00a0The club are allowing him days off during the week if they feel it is beneficial to his recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal staff are keeping an open mind on when he is able to start working with a ball. But it is understood the earliest he could return to action is against Newcastle on April 28.<\/p>\n<p>The news will come as a boost to boss Arsene Wenger, who has seen his squad depleted by injuries to key players in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<div>Likewise, England manager Roy Hodgson will be encouraged by Wilshere\u2019s progress.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Fitness permitting, he is almost certain to be part of Hodgson\u2019s squad to travel to Brazil this summer.<\/div>\n<p>Fellow Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey, 23, could return to full training at the end of next week. The Wales international has not played since Boxing Day due to a thigh injury sustained in the win over West Ham.<\/p>\n<p>Ramsey had a setback\u00a0 in his recovery which delayed his\u00a0 comeback. But he could return to full training next week, which may give him a chance of being fit for the FA Cup semi-final against Wigan on April 12.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Ramsey is progressing well. We must be patient for a few more weeks,\u2019 Wenger said on Thursday.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Jack Wilshere has taken a significant step forward in his race to be fit for the World Cup. The midfielder, 22, is recovering from a hairline fracture to his left foot sustained in a hefty challenge with Liverpool defender Daniel Agger in England\u2019s win over Denmark earlier this month. It was feared the injury [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[37],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3077,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075\/revisions\/3077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}