Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger fears Laurent Koscielny will be injured on international duty

Arsenal manager has revealed that he fears for the fitness Laurent Koscielny while the central defender is away on international duty.

Wenger, who is already facing an injury headache after Alexis Sanchez suffered a hamstring problem while in training with Chile, admitted that he has ‘sleepless nights’ when his players turn out for their national teams.

Despite his injury concerns, Wenger insists that he never takes the measures to stop a player featuring for their country in competitive fixtures, but admitted that he believes his star names should be rested for less important games.

Koscielny, for example, who is expect to start for France in their World Cup qualifier against Sweden on Friday, has been advised by Wenger to skip the friendly with the Ivory Coast just four days later and take into consideration Arsenal’s upcoming games.

‘When it is a competitive game I never intervene,’ Wenger told beIN Sports.

‘When it is a friendly game, for example now Koscielny goes to the French national team, he has played every single game apart from the first game and France play a friendly against Ivory Coast,’ the Arsenal manager added.

‘In the second game, on Tuesday night, I can’t see the purpose of Koscielny playing that game. I can understand completely that he plays against Sweden but it’s difficult to understand that he would play the full game against Ivory Coast as we play Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain [In Arsenal’s next fixtures].

‘So if it’s not needed, you try to find a compromise to suit both parties.’

The international break can prove pivotal to Wenger’s desire to end his long run without a Premier League title and, with the danger of one of his players picking up a serious injury, the Frenchman admitted to having ‘sleepless nights’ during the break.

‘Look, you’re always on the phone, hoping you don’t hear any bad news, especially after the game,’ Wenger said. ‘You look at how long they played, did anybody come off injured, you wait for the statements from the physio’s who are texting every hour.

‘Before you start the game you have already had a sleepless night after the international games because some of your players have been injured. Sometimes you’re angry as well because the play a friendly game, they’re already overloaded and instead of being taken off they still play the 90 minutes.’