Wilshere has welcomed the return of two Hatters as Luton prepare for their first-ever visit to Stadium MK tomorrow, but one Town player is likely to remain unavailable, while the sidelined foursome of hamstrung midfielders continue their recoveries.
Right back Harrison Ashby is available again after serving his one-match suspension, while striker Callum Marshall has returned to training on Monday after missing Luton’s 4-1 victory at Wycombe Wanderers because of a personal issue. Centre half George Johnston is also available after breaking his nose in last week’s victory.
“He broke his nose, which if you look at him, probably you can realise it’s not the first time,” joked Wilshere.
“That’s what I love about George. He so committed. He wanted to carry on. They couldn’t stop the bleeding. “We’re still waiting for the mask to come, and there was that conversation around, ‘do you want to train or do you want to be protected?’ He said: ‘No, I’m training’. He’s trained all week, so he’ll probably be wearing some sort of mask tomorrow, but he’s fine.”
However, the Milton Keynes match is likely to come too soon for Dan Gore, who missed last weekend’s win at Wycombe, though Wilshere said: “There’s some good news with Dan. This game would probably come a little bit too soon for him.
“I’m not sure if I spoke about it, but we were just doing a small-sided game and he slipped and hurt his groin, which was frustrating for us and for him. But the good news is that he’s not too far away.”
The four hamstring injuries remain a concern for Wilshere, with the manager having previously explained that the circumstances surrounding each case were different for Benny Benagr, Jayden Luker, Shayden Morris, while Gideon Kodua has already been ruled out until the new year.
On Benagr, the manager said: “Benny’s doing part of training, the unopposed stuff with us at the start. I think Jadyen’s plan is to do that as well at some point over the next week or so.
“Shayden, he’s probably a little bit further behind than both of them, and then Gids is obviously a fresh one. So, hopefully not too long. I don’t want to give a day, but hopefully Benny and Jayden, [will be back] early November or mid November.”
Despite that quartet’s absence, with players returning and competition for places increasing, Wilshere said he welcomed the challenge of having more options available to him ahead of facing Milton Keynes, who have not won a League One game so far this term.
Wilshere said: “It’s selection issues for the team but also for the squad, and I like it because it then creates something in training. Players can’t just turn up to training and go through the motions and think it’s going to happen that they’re going to be in the squad.
“It’s not the way. We want players to compete every day and those behaviours are practised every single day. It’s not a button you press on a Saturday, where you turn it on. You have to do it all week. And when you’re fighting to get into a squad, that creates it even more.”
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