Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is wary of asking too much from Gervinho after his African Nations Cup campaign with Ivory Coast.

The 25-year-old missed in a penalty shoot-out when Ivory Coast lost this year's Africa Cup of Nations final to Zambia - and Wenger is wary of rushing Gervinho back to club action.

"The Africa Cup of Nations starts on January 19, and usually the players have to be there 14 days before - that means we could lose Gervinho on January 5," Wenger told Arsenal Player. "Usually it's always a battle to get him to play in the FA Cup third round.

"When they come back, the players have played a massive competition. Last year, we never [got] him back completely because he came back with a disappointing result and we didn't give him any rest.

"Maybe we have to do it a little bit differently when he comes back [in 2013]."