Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck has been ruled out of Saturday's FA Cup final and England's forthcoming internationals with a knee injury.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said the former Manchester United forward has no chance of being fit for the Wembley showpiece with Aston Villa and has been withdrawn from the England squad to face the Republic of Ireland on June 7 and Slovenia on June 14.

Wenger said: "Danny Welbeck will not be fit, not for us, nor for England.

"We called them yesterday, the FA, to explain that his bone bruising of the knee has not healed.

"I don't know what he will say, Roy (Hodgson), the England boss."

Wenger insisted Welbeck, who has not played since the goalless draw with Chelsea on April 26, has not suffered a setback.

"It took longer than expected," the Frenchman said.

"He would have been short anyway. I was prepared for that.

"He didn't practice until (last) Friday, so I knew he would be short for the FA Cup."

Wenger is close to deciding his final starting line-up as Arsenal bid to retain the trophy which ended a nine-year silverware drought 12 months ago.

"I don't know who will start yet and it's not important because it's just on the day in the FA Cup final," he said.

"What is important is that you bring the trophy back. It's always a concern for the whole squad."

Wenger has a number of selection decisions to make, such as whether to persist with Wojciech Szczesny in the FA Cup, despite the Poland goalkeeper being displaced as first choice by David Ospina.

The Gunners boss must also decide if Theo Walcott will start up front after his hat-trick in last season's Premier League-concluding 4-1 defeat of West Brom.

"I will not tell you anything today," Wenger said.

"Nobody knows at the moment. I just think it is important to focus as a whole squad on winning the trophy.

"Most of the time the heroes are the people who come on in an FA Cup final – they make the difference.

"That's why it is important as a reward for the whole team who have fought very hard the whole season to get there.

"Let's deal with it as a whole squad."

Wenger could become the first post-war manager to win six FA Cups, a tally previously achieved by only George Ramsay, who won his last with Villa in 1920.

"It's not easy. I would love to do it but I'm not honestly focused on that," Wenger said.

"I like to beat records but that's not the most important thing on Saturday.

"I'm more focused on the fact that we have fought so hard to get there.

"We went to Man United to qualify and we had to win big games to get there. Now we want to finish the job.

"The most important thing is that we come back home all together and happy."