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Arsene Wenger has urged caution over Jack Wilshere, likening the Arsenal and England starlet’s heavy workload to a car heading towards a wall.

Wenger claims he is the master of developing young players and that his vast experience is telling him Wilshere needs a break.

According to Wenger, Wilshere’s involvement in both of England’s fixtures in the international break “defied common sense”.

Further adding to the club versus country tension is Wilshere’s stated desire to be part of the England U-21s at the European Championships in the summer, with June also bringing another Euro 2012 qualifier for the seniors which he could be involved in.

Wilshere, 19, made his first senior England competitive start in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales last weekend, and was again named in Fabio Capello’s XI for Tuesday night’s friendly with Ghana at Wembley, where he played 70 minutes. If he continues to represent his country at all ago levels he could have played almost 60 games in his first full season before having a break.

“A lot happened last week that defied common sense, but I do not want to talk about that,” Wenger said. “I do not want to go into these battles any more, and I did it with France. But I have enough experience, and experience helps you only to anticipate problems – you know this car will hit the wall at some stage and you see it a little bit earlier than somebody who has less experience. Nobody has brought more young players out than I have and I have a good experience of what kind of stages they go through.”

Wenger is also aware of the added pressure the home-grown starlet has to cope with.

“I think the best way to help Wilshere is to leave him alone to play football,” said the Arsenal manager. “I don’t deny that he is a very promising player. I wouldn’t play him in the first team at 19 with the number of midfielders I have if I didn’t believe that. But let him play and what he will be, he will be. We are all confident that he has a bright future, but it is the first season. Let him play.”

Capello has declared the likes of Wilshere and fellow Arsenal team-mate Theo Walcott are, along with Liverpool striker Andy Carroll, the future of the national team. Wenger feels long-term thinking is the only way to develop a successful strategy, particularly in terms of managing player workloads.

“You prepare for a European Championship a year before, not in May or in June before the competition,” he said. “France was European and world champions. Then they went to Australia, they went to Chile and after went out of the 2002 World Cup in the first round without scoring a goal – with the best goalscorer in England, the best goalscorer in Italy and the best goalscorer in France in the team. I told them before.

“England do think about it, but they have to decide what to do and we will adapt. We will give the needed rest to Wilshere if he plays the tournament. At the end of the day, what is important is that England has a good player, Arsenal has a good player and the player has the needed rest to produce good performances.”

Arsenal host Blackburn in Saturday’s late kick-off looking to keep the pressure up on leaders Manchester United, who head to relegation battlers West Ham at lunchtime. With the Premier League now their only hope of silverware, Wenger knows there can be no more room for error.

“We cannot afford any more draws, but the good thing is the other teams are in the same position,” he said. “We have now recovered some players during the international break. We were touched mentally, because we played with desire, but did not have free spirit. For us to play well, it is important to have a free spirit, so to recover a bit mentally was important.”

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Rafael van der Vaart insists he has every intention of remaining at Tottenham next season.

Van der Vaart, 28, has enjoyed a revival at Spurs after ending a frustrating two-year spell with Real Madrid last summer, but he revealed this week that he misses the lifestyle in the Spanish capital.

He has also complained that he is rarely given 90 minutes during games, but he remains convinced that he can win silverware if he stays at White Hart Lane and has no interest in a summer move.

“The fact that I’m not being linked with top clubs does not matter to me,” he told Nu Sport. “I don’t intend to leave Spurs after just a year.

“You always have to be ambitious. I want to win trophies, and I think in the short term I can do that every year with Tottenham.

“The chairman is very enthusiastic. He’ll say: ‘I want to sign this player and that player.’ I like the sound of that. If we can qualify for the Champions League once again next season it will become easier to attract new signings.

“The chairman gave former manager Martin Jol a Porsche as a present after a good run of results. He hasn’t yet done something similar for us, but maybe he might if we win the Champions League.”

Van der Vaart said he has been frustrated that Spurs have failed to take advantage of recent Premier League fixtures against sides battling relegation and that they must improve that aspect of their game if they are to become serious challengers for the title.

“Tottenham are still in the process of developing. In our last three league games against Blackpool, Wolves and West Ham we’ve taken just two points, but it ought to have been nine, and that is stupid,” he said.

“We do very well against the bigger clubs, but we mess up too much against the smaller sides. Maybe that is the final step that we need to take. We have sufficient money to remain in the race with the other big clubs.”

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Alan Pardew is excited by Newcastle’s summer recruitment plans – but will put them on ice until their Premier League status is assured.

Pardew has instructed his scouting team to scour the world for new talent as he attempts to build a squad capable of establishing the club in the upper reaches of the division.

However, he knows he must first ensure they remain in the top flight by making a strong final push, starting with Saturday’s visit of Wolves to St James’ Park.

Pardew said: “That focus is something that excites me, but it is very much secondary in my mind at the minute because the job in hand is to make sure that we are a Premier League side.

“The way the league is congested and how tight it is – 36 points at this time with eight games to go, we should have a fair bit of breathing space, but we haven’t, of course, because the team at the top of the relegation area has 32.

“It’s a period when you have to concentrate and give everything in every game, and as long as I am manager, that’s what we will do.”

Mick McCarthy’s men will head for Tyneside sitting inside the relegation zone – seven places, but just four points adrift of Newcastle – and anything but a positive result for the Magpies could see them sucked to the fringes of the mire.

Newcastle have taken just one point from their last three games, two of which were played at home. They have not won on their own turf since January 5, when West Ham were trounced 5-0.

That run of four games includes creditable draws with north London duo Tottenham and, in spectacular style, Arsenal, but there is little doubt that a significant improvement is required if they are to end the season in comfort rather than scrapping for points.

Pardew said: “You want to win your home games – it’s important. It’s important for your fans and everybody who turns up. We have 50,000 people there and we want them to go home with a smile on their face having seen their team win, and we haven’t done that enough this year.

“We have got some important home games to come and the position in the league will be determined by how strong we are at home from now on in.

“We have to be really, really strong and make sure we compete with Wolves as they have competed, to be fair to Mick and his staff, almost every game – and so have we, for the best part. That will be hard against Wolves, but that’s what we will try to do.”

Pardew and McCarthy know each other of old, and the Newcastle boss is under no illusions as to what to expect from his Wolves counterpart.

He said: “His interviews tell you everything about Mick – it’s straight, it’s honest and his teams will give everything until the last knockings.”

McCarthy, of course, will be without striker Kevin Doyle, who suffered knee ligament damage on international duty with the Republic of Ireland last weekend, but Pardew will be without Doyle’s Ireland team-mate Leon Best through injury and key midfielder Cheick Tiote through suspension, while Jose Enrique and Stephen Ireland remain big doubts.

That has simply served to illustrate the club’s need for summer recruits. Assistant boss John Carver was in Dublin last week amid rumours that the Magpies are trailing striker Shane Long and keeper Keiren Westwood, although with Celtic having been told to forget signing Fraser Forster, the latter appears not to be a target.

Pardew said: “It would be silly for them not to be on our radar – but everybody is on our radar.

“But not so much the goalkeeping situation because we have got Steve Harper, Fraser Forster and Tim Krul, and I don’t think, if I am honest, that’s going to change. There are other areas in which we need to strengthen.”

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