Of course Arsene Wenger would have liked to be in the position where he had full control of when and for how long he would rest our star striker Alexis Sanchez, but to be fair the boss had mentioned it more than a few times and if the squad had not been so ravaged with injury problems he would probably already have given the Chile international a well earned rest.
As we know, that choice has been taken away from the Frenchman after Alexis pulled his hamstring in the game against Norwich City but the latest news on his injury, reported by the Daily Mail, is really not that bad.
Not only do Arsenal expect the forward to be back in good time for the big Premier League clash against Man City in less than three weeks, but he has been allowed to go back home to Chile, as their national manager Jorge Sampaoli explained.
He said, “We have contacted the medical team at Arsenal, who gave him a week of treatment in Chile.
“We have to see how it is [the injury] to know how quickly he can recover, but we are aware of everything and we’ll see if we can contribute to Alexis getting back on the pitch sooner.”
Although it sounds like Alexis might have some treatment while he is there, he will also have a nice rest and an early christmas with family and that could prove of huge benefit when he back in London as we prepare for the business end of the season.
So aprat from that final Champions League game, which was already a very tall order, is this Alexis injury actually pretty good timing for Arsenal?