On a day when Arsenal fans should be celebrating our elevation back into the Top Four (and back above Tottenham) we are instead discussing a woeful performance against a Leicester side that are rock bottom of the Premier League. The Gunners DID manage to hang on to take the barely-deserved three points but yet again we have seen a couple of injuries to knock us off our stride.
Arsene Wenger is particularly worried about Aaron Ramsey, who only managed to stay on the field for seven minutes after coming on as a substitute for Theo Walcott. “It’s the disappointment of the night,” Wenger said on TalkSport. “To see him come off after seven minutes is very difficult.
“I rested him today because I wanted to be cautious with him. In the end I brought him on, I thought 20 minutes might be ok for him, but it’s difficult to swallow, that.
“We need his energy level and his quality and it’s difficult to lose him like that.
“I don’t know how bad it is. He’s not overplayed. Since he’s had these problems I’ve been more cautious.
“But it doesn’t look good. He had a recurrence a few times, it’s difficult to know why…it’s worrying because it is a muscular injury but the fact he had to stop straight away is not a good sign.”
We also saw Alexis sustain a nasty knock to the knee in the first half, although Wenger persisted with the Chilean hitman until his usual substitutions 20 mins from the end of the game. “Alexis Sanchez does not look bad, a kick on the knee,”
“At half-time I wanted to take Alexis off, but he said ‘no, I’m ok’, but he was not himself from that moment. I don’t know if he will be out.”
Sanchez later posted on Twitter a rather cryptic message which appears to suggest he may have made the injury worse by carrying on in the second half. His post said: “Sometimes the love for the game and anxiety to be on a football pitch works against you”
Well we will just have to wait for confirmation of Alexis’ status, but with just three points now separating third place and Liverpool in seventh, we really could do without any more injuries to our best players. Fingers crossed for Alexis!