Arsenal Confirm Star Duo Will Miss Galatasaray Trip

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Laurent Koscielny and Alexis Sanchez will be among the players he’ll rest for Tuesday’s Champions League clash at Galatasaray.

Koscielny was left on the bench for Saturday’s 3-2 defeat away at Stoke City and many fans assumed he’d been rested ahead of tomorrow’s game against Galatasaray.

However, the boss has now revealed that he doesn’t see any reason why he should risk the Frenchman for a game that has ‘not a lot at stake’, as he continues to protect the centre-backs troublesome Achilles injury.

Wenger also confirmed that Alexis Sanchez will be another who’ll sit out the trip to Istanbul as he looks to take this opportunity to rest a few key players ahead of what’s going to be a hectic festive period.

The boss told Arsenal.com:

“A few players [will not travel] because there’s not a lot at stake and we have given a lot in the last two weeks,” said Wenger. “We have to recover a little bit.”

“Alexis will not travel and I don’t think I can play, for example, Koscielny. He didn’t play on Saturday and I don’t see why I should risk him for a game where’s there’s not a lot at stake.”

“First place hypothetically, but there’s maybe a 10 per cent chance.”

We head into the final group game trailing leaders Borussia Dortmund by two points but with Jurgen Klopp’s side boasting a far better goal difference, we need the Germans to lose at home to Anderlecht for us to have any chance of progressing as Group D winners.

I admit it’s unlikely Dortmund will lose at home to the Belgian side, but they are in terrible form this season and only got themselves off the bottom of the Bundesliga table with a narrow 1-0 win at the weekend, so it’s not beyond the realms of possibility.

However, I personally think Arsene is making the correct call in resting the likes of Koscielny and Sanchez as we simply have to improve our league form and ensuring our best players are fit for Christmas and New Year is more important.

Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla are other players I think may get a breather tomorrow night, although they are likely to be among the substitutes, with Lukas Podolski and Joel Campbell pushing for starts.