The latest news from Arsenal on the injury situation is not entirely unexpected but it is still a heavy blow to take, especially with Saturday’s trip to White Hart Lane for the north London derby having extra significance with our relative positions in the Premier League table.
An Arsenal.com report has revealed that Arsene Wenger will not be able to call on his star man Alexis Sanchez against the spuds. The news is not too bad as the Frenchman explained that our Chile international is back in light training and may be available for the home game with Leicester on Tuesday, but Saturday is too soon. However, we do have the England international forward Danny Welbeck back and the news on Wilshere, Chamberlain and Gnabry is good.
Wenger said, “Welbeck is back in the group. Apart from that we have the same squad available as last week.
“The latest is that Alexis is not ready. He is not far away, the Leicester game is a possibility. He is of course very difficult to keep quiet! He is training but it’s light training.
“Jack is back in full training next week, hopefully from Sunday.
“Alex is still out, but he is starting to practice again, not full training.
“Serge will play on Monday night at Newcastle, with Bielik. Bielik is coming along very well.”
So how will this affect us for the derby? To be honest I am not too worried and would be happy for Wenger to start the same 11 that thrashed Aston Villa. He also has the option of bringing in the pace of Welbeck on one side of the front three.
It won’t change our approach to the game, which will be to stay compact and frustrate the home team and hit them on the break and we have more than enough pace and ability up front to do that. What might happen is that the spuds change their approach and are more adventurous after we lost our best player, especially as they need the win more than we do. That could suit us more than them.
The Gunners will of course miss the ability and commitment of Alexis but in a local derby, every player should be up for it. How do you think Arsenal will do without the star man?