Arsenal have confirmed winger Theo Walcott will be out for ‘four to six weeks’ with an ankle injury.

The pacey wideman was carried off early on in England's 3-1 win over Switzerland in the Euro 2012 qualifier on Tuesday night, after colliding with Yves Oehri during the build-up to Wayne Rooney's opening goal.

Fabio Capello originally claimed Walcott was facing just a two-week lay-off but Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has now revealed that the 21-year-old will need far longer to overcome the injury.

"The tackle looked quite bad," said Wenger. "When you see how it turned his ankle I thought it would be three or four days or it would be four to six weeks.

"Unfortunately it will be four to six weeks. We had some good news about the scan because at some stage we were scared it could be worse. But overall it is a question of patience and rehabilitation."

Wenger also revealed that Robin van Persie will be sidelined until mid-October at least, with the Dutch striker's ankle injury worse than first feared.

"That is bad news,” added Wenger. “At the start we were optimistic. Maybe a bit too much, thinking it would be one or two weeks. But the damage was bigger than expected and he will be four to six weeks.”