Alexis Sanchez is enjoying a dream first season as an Arsenal player, exhibiting his entire repertoire of scoring goals, making goals and working indefatigably for the welfare of his team. Of late, however, the Chilean has had an obtrusive dip in form that has seen him score just 1 goal and register 1 assist in his last 12 games in all competitions for the Gunners. The question is: will Sanchez’s indifferent form concern the North Londoners, who currently sit in 3rd place in the Premier League table?
Prior to this dip in form, Sanchez was by far the most important player for the Gunners, who were heavily reliant on the former Barcelona winger during the early stages of this campaign. Sanchez was, in many ways, winning games singlehandedly for his team; in fact, 5 of Sanchez’s 13 Premier League goals have resulted in him earning Arsenal as many as 9 points all on his own. That is how crucial Sanchez’s early season form was to the benefit of Arsene Wenger’s men.
Since the second half of January, when the 26-year old forward entered a lean patch, Wenger has found other players of the squad come to the party and deliver the goods for his team. When it comes to scoring goals, Olivier Giroud has made a strong comeback in the last couple of months that have seen the 28-year old French striker score as many as 10 goals in 12 games in all competitions. The likes of Danny Welbeck, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey, to name a few, have come up with their fair share of goals as well, that have helped Arsenal win 10 of their last 12 games in all competitions.
In terms of creating goals: Santiago Cazorla has continued to be the chief orchestrator in the middle of midfield, although Ozil’s return to action has alleviated the workload on the Spaniard. While this Cazorla-Ozil duo has played together in the last 5 Premier League games (until Newcastle), they have combined to create an impressive 25 chances, with the German creating the most chances (18) during that period.
Looking beyond the significant aspects of scoring goals and creating goals, Arsenal, going into their last 8 games of this campaign, would want Sanchez, who has created the most number of goal scoring chances (64) in the Arsenal squad, to get back into form as soon as possible. Yes, other players have hit form and, barring an injury crisis, it looks all rosy for the North Londoners at the moment.
Sanchez, however, is a big match player and his work rate is second to none in this Arsenal squad that will need the Chilean to be on top of his game once Premier League action returns after this international break. Wenger’s wizards face the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United over the last couple of months of their 2014/15 campaign, and will need Sanchez’s industry to win those heavyweight clashes.
Suhith