Smoking Gunner: Jack Wilshere pictured with shisha pipe

Jack Wilshere might make his living as a footballer, but it appears there is one thing the Arsenal man cannot kick – his smoking habit.

The midfielder, who is recovering from an ankle injury, was photographed holding a shisha pipe while on a night out last week prompting more speculation about his lifestyle.

The image shows Wilshere standing alongside three women clutching the mouthpiece of the pipe. The photo was originally posted on Instagram, before being removed, but was then subsequently reposted on Twitter, reports the London Evening Standard.

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It is the third time Wilshere has been pictured apparently enjoying a smoke. In October 2013 he was caught puffing on a gasper outside a nightclub following a Champions League match. Then, in the wake of England's disastrous World Cup campaign last summer he was photographed with a cigarette in his mouth and also holding a cigar while on holiday in Las Vegas.

After those images came to light Wilshere cut an apologetic figure. "The smoking? Of course I regret it," he said. "I have been seen before doing it. I said then I made a mistake and I have made a mistake again. People make mistakes.

"I have kids myself and I don’t want them growing up to think their dad smokes and it is OK for a footballer to smoke, because it's not. It is unacceptable and I will accept the consequences and I will move on."

That is a sentiment manager Arsene Wenger shares, and he has been voiced concerns about smoking in his squad. However, he may have his work cut out stamping out the practice as Wilshere is not the only smoking Gunner.

Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was caught lighting up in the showers at Southampton after Arsenal lost to the Saints on New Year's Day. And the Polish stopper has not played in the Premier League since.

Unfortunately for Wenger one of the women in the picture that shows Wilshere and the shisha pipe appears to be Szczesny's girlfriend Marina Luczenko.

Back in 2012 Marouane Chamakh, the Morocco striker now at Crystal Palace, was pictured holding a shisha pipe just hours after an defeat at QPR.