If there is one Arsenal player who you would pick to be able to cope with a heavy workload it would probably be Alexis Sanchez, so even though the Chile international started and almost completed the Premier League clash at home to West Brom on Monday night, he would probably be fine to do the same again in the Europa League match away to BATE Borisov.
With another must win EPL game coming up on Sunday, though, and with the long haul travel involved in our trip to Belarus this week to factor in, the chances are that Arsene Wenger would not want to start Alexis but keep him on the bench and as fresh as possible to face Brighton at the weekend.
Arsenal fans are aware that the manager is going to put the domestic league games first anyway so we would not mind seeing a weakened Arsenal in the Europa League, but if there really is a risk of Alexis being handed a two game suspension by the English football authorities, as a report by The Mirror has claimed, then I think Wenger would want to use his star striker in the midweek match instead.
This potential ban is for the diving incident highlighted by the disgruntled Baggies boss Tony Pulis so the authorities may feel it needs looking at. The problem for Wenger is that he may not know if any retrospective action will take place until after the game against BATE, so should we start with Alexis anyway just in case?
To be honest he can handle three games in a week, but on the other hand the chances of the FA banning Sanchez when we see players diving or feigning injury every week are pretty slim. What would you do Gooners?
D.N.