Bentley, who left Arsenal in 2006 after five years and just one appearance for the first team and is now at Blackburn, has told Walcott he might need to quit the Emirates to find regular football.

But Wenger insists Walcott, who came on as a substitute for the last 19 minutes of Arsenal's midweek triumph against AC Milan and promptly made the second goal for Emmanuel Adebayor, can be a major star.

An angry Wenger said: "Bentley is entitled to his opinion but it does not mean he is right.

"I don't know why one player should incite another player to leave a club. It is not his job.

"What is important is what the player really wants. When you are in one of the biggest clubs in the world you have to accept competition and if you accept it, it makes you better. If you move down you are down, not at the top.

"I believe Theo can establish himself here. He is 18 and at that age to play in one of the biggest clubs in the world in a regular position is very difficult.

"As a striker he has one big quality. When he comes on he makes a big impact. He's not there completely yet when he starts a game but that is transitional.

"Very soon he will have the same impact when he starts. You cannot interrupt that kind of progression and development of a player. You can get lost by moving.

"Between 18 and 20 a player develops. When I took Nicolas Anelka at 17 for the first few months he looked completely behind the team and then in three months he became in front of Ian Wright."

Walcott will miss Sunday's visit to Wigan after sustaining a slight thigh injury in a reserve match against Colorado Rapids at Arsenal's training ground.

Abou Diaby is also out of the game with a calf problem he sustained against Milan, although good news for Wenger is that striker Robin Van Persie came through an hour of the reserve match without problem.

After their European heroics, Wenger is hoping to get Arsenal's league title chase back on track against Wigan but is eager to avoid an English club when the Champions League quarter-final draw is made a week tomorrow.

He said: "Every English team if they are really honest would prefer to play a foreign team.

"It becomes more of a domestic competition when you play a local team but if we have to overcome an English hurdle we will do that as well.

"To be champions in England you have to go from Milan to Wigan and win the game and I like that because it is a completely different type of game. You have to find a response to what you face."

Wenger believes the fine showing of the English clubs in Europe is down to the quality of the Premier League and he predicts at least one English club will contest the final in Moscow in May.

But he warns such dominance could change quickly.

Wenger said: "Fifteen years ago France were dominant and Italy were super dominant, then France and Spain.

"Somebody from Real Madrid called me today and said Real Madrid have not reached the Champions League quarter finals for four consecutive years, so it's never guaranteed and in the last four years they have invested 775 million euros (£593million).

"It is not only down to money. It is down to good decisions, quality of work and patience and the quality of the league."

Wenger, who revealed broken leg victim Eduardo would be out for nine months, also reiterated the desire at the heart of Arsenal's challenge.

He said: "This team has not an artificial hunger. They are really hungry for success.

"This season we are up for it and we will fight until the end. I'm completely confident. Any team will say they really want to win it but this team really mean it."

And he warned against any backlash on Sunday on a JJB pitch which resembles a cow field.

He said: "It will be a big test because they (Wigan) are playing not to go down. They are under pressure like we are at the top. They are under pressure not to go down. I have heard that the pitch is not the Emirates."