Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed that the Gunners will tonight face Olympiakos in the Champions League without key players in every area of the pitch.

Speaking on Tuesday, the Arsenal boss revealed that defender Laurent Koscielny joins Thomas Vermaelen, Sebastien Squillaci and Johan Djourou on the sidelines and will be joined by midfielder Gervinho and striker Theo Walcott with all three, however, set to recover in time for Sunday’s crucial North London derby against Tottenham Hotspur.

Asked about Jack Wilshere who underwent surgery on Monday, the Frenchman declared that even though surgery was a success the 19-year old will be ruled out for at least four months hence set to make his comeback in 2012.

Asked if there was any “change” in the injury diagnosed in the summer, Wenger concluded by saying that the first time the youngster felt the injury was in June when England faced Switzerland at Wembley with the Frenchman opting not to say whether the injury was the consequence of “overuse”.

Ahead of tonight’s game, Wenger said:

[Injury news?] [Laurent] Koscielny is not fit, Gervinho is not fit, [Theo] Walcott is not fit but yes, [Walcott has a chance on facing Tottenham on Sunday, more than 50/50 chance] as he has no damage in the knee.

Koscielny has an ankle problem, consecutive to the tackle from [Nigel] Reo-Coker [last Saturday], it was a fair tackle but he was a bit late in that. Gervinho is a muscular problem, very mild. All the three have a chance for the weekend.

[Jack Wilshere?] The news we have are very positive but of course the time he will be out will be quite long and it’s very difficult to predict for how long he will be out but at least four months, certainly.

[If the injury changed?] The fracture he had didn’t heal, basically what I’ve been told is that we had to go in quite quickly to repair it, that’s why we decide to do it so quickly.

He had an early fracture at the age of 16 that healed and around that he created another opening.

Is it down to a kick? Is it down to playing too much? I don’t know, I’m no specialist but that’s what unfortunately happened. He told me that he felt it the first time against Switzerland.