The Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger made a big mistake last week against Leicester by allowing Alexis Sanchez to stay on the pitch after getting injured in the first half, and he admitted his error after the game.
Having realised that, he has now decided that he must not listen to his star player but start taking his own council on Alexis’ fitness. Wenger said: ‘He didn’t look right on Tuesday night. He got a knock on his knee and he was not feeling himself like he was before. There was not the same intensity as before.
‘It is a concern. He wants so much to play. But he still has a problem. It is muscular and should not be a problem. But if he is not available for Sunday he should be okay for the next game.
‘If there is any medical risk he will not play. He is the type that you have to hold back. At the moment he has not been out on the pitch but if there is no medical risk I might play him.’
When Sanchez was playing every single game in the first half of the season, many JustArsenal readers were calling for him to be rested so as to avoid burnout, as we have seen with so many Arsenal players in the past, but Wenger seemed convinced that “Mr Duracell” could carry on playing without any need to rest. Hopefully Wenger will now be more forceful with the Chilean when he says he wants to play….
To be fair though, earlier in the season we didn’t have many other strikers available to give Alexis a rest, but now with Ozil, Walcott and Giroud (and even Gnabry!) back from long term injuries, there should be ample opportunities for Wenger to give more recovery time to Alexis, and he MUST use them….