Arsenal ace Robin van Persie faces World Cup heartbreak after being ruled out for five months with his ankle injury.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is fuming about the wrong diagnosis which could wreck his side's title challenge.

Wenger said: "The Dutch FA minimalised the injury. We have found out it is much worse than what they had told us. If a player gets injured with his country he should be sent back to his club to be checked out by their doctors.

"Countries just take your player away for a friendly, give him back and say 'there you go'. This doesn't happen in any other sport. It's a joke and there must be more respect for us."

Van Persie, who has scored eight goals in 11 matches for the Gunners, was hurt during the draw with Italy after a challenge by Giorgio Chiellini.

Dutch medics said he would be out for six weeks with a ligament strain. A new scan discovered three of the four ligaments in his right ankle were ruptured.