Sanchez Injury Update: Arsenal Handed Major Boost Ahead Of Man Utd Trip

Arsenal have been handed a major injury boost ahead of their trip to Manchester United with both Alexis Sanchez and the Chile manager confirming that the attackers injury isn’t serious.

Arsene Wenger was left sweating over the fitness of his star striker after Sanchez limped out of training with the Chile national team earlier this week after suffering a ‘low-grade’ muscle injury.

The 27-year-old was immediately ruled out of their World Cup qualifier against Colombia on Thursday night and there were reports circulating this morning that claimed Sanchez was facing six weeks on the sidelines.

If true, Sanchez would have missed Arsenal’s crunch clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford next weekend as well as subsequent games against PSG, Bournemouth, Southampton, West Ham, Stoke and Everton.

However, it looks like those reports were wide of the mark as the Mirror have quoted Sanchez as saying to Chilean newspaper El Mercurio that he’s ‘fine’ and should be back for Tuesday’s clash with Uruguay.

“It is hurting a bit but I’m fine. I’ll be back for Tuesday.”

The Chilean national team manager, Juan Antonio Pizzi, has also now confirmed that Sanchez’s injury is only minor and is hoping to have the attacker available when they host Uruguay next week.

Pizzi is quoted as saying by the Express.

“We expected to count on Alexis Sanchez, but he suffered a small injury yesterday and cannot be considered for tomorrow.

“Alexis Sanchez’s injury is minor. Lets hope he can be fit to play against Uruguay.

“The decision (to leave Alexis in Santiago) altogether was endorsed by the doctor, who suggested that the trip was going to be worse for him.

“Sanchez has the possibilities to play on Tuesday against Uruguay.”

So it looks as though Wenger can now breath a huge sigh of relief as Sanchez should be able to take on United at Old Trafford next Saturday if he’s in contention to play for his national team four days earlier.

The Arsenal boss will of course keep a close eye on how Sanchez’s injury progresses over the coming days and he’ll be praying his attacker doesn’t aggravate the problem if he does play for Chile next week as it would be a huge blow to the north Londoners if they were to lose the former Barcelona star at such an important part of the season.