Arsenal Handed Huge Injury Boost Ahead Of Man Utd Clash

Arsenal appear to have been handed a huge injury boost ahead of Saturday’s clash with Manchester United after Alexis Sanchez was declared fit to start for Chile tomorrow night, according to the Mirror.

Sanchez suffered a hamstring injury during training last week and was forced to miss Chile’s World Cup qualifying draw at Colombia last Thursday night as he remained in Santiago to receive treatment.

Arsene Wenger voiced his concern over reports that Sanchez was being rushed back in to action by his country and demanded to see scan results amid reports that the attacker had a 9 millimeter tear in his right hamstring.

Sanchez returned to full training on Sunday with heavy bandaging around his hamstring but the Gunners boss suggested it would be ‘suicidal’ for him to play in Chile’s crucial World Cup qualifier against Uruguay on Tuesday night if he wasn’t 100% match fit.

However, it looks as though Chile are ready to risk the 27-year-old tomorrow night as boss Juan Antonio Pizzi has confirmed that Sanchez has been declared fit and available for selection and insists that he wouldn’t start any player if they weren’t medically fit to play.

Pizzi is quoted as saying by the Mirror:

“Sanchez was not ready for the game in Colombia, but we knew the injury was a small one and we could have him for this match,”

“The three of them (Sanchez, Vidal and Bravo) are available to me for tomorrow.”

“It’s not that he [Sanchez] hasn’t trained, he’s trained every day, even when we were in Colombia he did a different kind of work. Yesterday he took part in full training.”

“At no time have we received pressure from any club. My stance is that I will never use a player who is not fit or capable of playing,”

“All of the clubs can remain calm, we are very respectful of our players. The health of our players is paramount, we will never force any player who has not got the medical all-clear.”

On the face of it, this news should be a huge boost to Arsenal as it means that Sanchez’s hamstring injury wasn’t serious and he theoretically should be available for Saturday’s pivotal trip to Old Trafford to take on Man Utd.

However, I’m sure Wenger is concerned that Chile are down-playing the seriousness of Sanchez’s injury and are rushing him back for their crucial World Cup qualifier as they sit outside the automatic qualification places and desperately need a win tomorrow night.

The worry for Arsenal is that Sanchez will be putting his body on the line for his country and could make the hamstring injury much worse – which could see him ruled out for several weeks, if not months.

Therefore, I’m sure Wenger will be keeping a close eye on the Chile game on Tuesday night and will be praying his star striker comes through the match unscathed.