Although Arsene Wenger dismissed the idea that Arsenal are completely reliant on our summer signing Alexis Sanchez, the manager did accept that the Chile international is a massive player for us. As reported by ESPN, the manager spoke in glowing terms about his striker and all thge things he brings to the Arsenal team, including 14 goals already from just 22 games.
Wenger said, “He has a huge desire, no complex and a fighting attitude. Even when he misses something, it doesn’t affect him. I believe as well he is very mobile, very determined and he has the sense to be in the right place in the box.
“On the goal scoring front you can say he is the dominant figure, but it doesn’t reflect the truth to say Sanchez is the only player.”
But Alexis is obviously important enough to Arsenal that the Frenchman is unwilling to take the former Barcelona star out of the firing line, even though he admitted that all the club games combined with trips back to South America to play for the Chile national team were taking their toll on the forward’s fitness and energy levels and leaving him more at risk of picking up an injury.
Wenger said, “He is in the red zone. You can see that when he plays, but he can dig deep. I think he played his 27th game since the start of the season on Wednesday, if you consider the international games and the travelling on top of that.
“Unfortunately, you never know how far you can push. We are not scientific enough to predict that completely, but he has great recovery potential. He recovers very quickly and he is always very sharp and ready to play.”
And an away game at Stoke is always likely to be a bruising encounter, so all we can do is hope that Alexis comes through the game unscathed and then maybe he can have the rest he deserves when Arsenal travel to Turkey for the final Champions League group game next week.
Play with Campbell, Podolski and Giroud from the start, if things arent working out, put on Sanchez (and Ox).
Knowing Wenger, he’ll probably play the same first 11 from Southampton
He can and will rest Sanchez against Galatasaray we know we are not going to top the CL Group
Never say never, I think there’s a fair chance that Anderlecht will beat Dortmund. Resting players and rotating the squad is the way to go though, we really can’t afford unecessary injuries.
Sevenitti – I’d love to see that front three with a promise that if they show up tomorrow they’ll start again on Tuesday. If they don’t, make the subs with half an hour left.
I think we stand a good chance of wining without sanchez in Istanbul, if not so what PL is more important if he needs a rest now.
if sanchez gets injured i will go kamikaze in the nearest shopping mall
If Alexis plays and gets injured you blame Wenger.
If Alexis gets rested and we don'[t score you blame Wenger.
WTF do you want ?
Nice inflammatory headline there. Read Wenger’s words, they are sensible. Unlike the writer of this article. Please stop feeding the beast of anti-Arsenal propaganda, the mainstream media has already brainwashed most of the people on this site.
We can afford to rest him tomorrow I believe. He didn’t play particularly well in the last game probably due to fatigue. I say, give Podolski a start.
Loved the Drogba and Messi advert. He he.
Yea that was some clever advertisement on behalf of TA
Bony or lukaku
Costa or aguero
Van persie or pelle
Sanchez or Rooney
Giroud or benteke
Walcott or wellbeck
To beat Stoke or the barcodes to beat Chelsea..
Southampton to beat manure or draw
To finish 4th or sign a defensive midfielder and centre half in January and finish 5th?
sanchez/cazorla should be rested, we have rosiskcy and Campbell/poldi that can effectively play that role. If its not going well we can bring sanchez in after the 55 min to give us a quick run.
Fans and pundits have been screaming for Wenger to use his wasted bench talent and rest some of his starters but he has shown an absolute stubborn refusal to make this very obvious move.
If Arsenal were winning consistently with his current lineup I could understand his reluctance to rotate players but this is NOT the case. And Poldi has a goals-per-minutes ratio that is the best ion the league. And explain to me why Campbell is even with the club???
Wenger’s stubborn streak will NEVER be broken.
Sanchez needs time off from travel and stadiums stay home and rest watch a good movie no point in taking him to Istanbul
And yet……. I read a report stating that Wenger claims are NOT completely reliant on Sanchez. There is a lot of deception and denial going on out there.
Rest him so he can recover in time for the Liverpool game. And by rest I mean on the bench at Stoke and keep him in London for the Galatasaray game. Even if a player doesn’t pick up an injury when played constantly, they can still see a big dip in performance when tired. I’d go for Ox and Podolski on the wings against Stoke.
By the way, anyone know when Walcott will be back (again)?
I would play Podolski against Galatasaray he has a score to settle with them from last summer when they dropped out from signing him and said he would if been just a luxury at the club.
Walcott will be back in two weeks AW said
We have to play our strongest team tomorrow and then rest our keys plays on Tuesday (Alexis,kos and Santi) and play poldi,Campbell and Hayden.
My only worry for tomorrow is we know it will be a physical game and I just hope Flamini keeps his cool.
I am sure i read that rosicky is injured, sanchez can rest tuesday, use the west brom team and we should do quite ok