Wenger Offers Positive Update On Sanchez Injury But Fears Grow Over Ramsey

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has played down Alexis Sanchez’ knee injury but admits Aaron Ramsey looks set for a spell on the sidelines with a hamstring problem.

Sanchez suffered a knee injury midway through the first half of last night’s 2-1 win over Leicester City following a kick from defender Matthew Upson.

He carried on after receiving some treatment but you could see he was still in discomfort so it was a surprise to see the Chilean international emerge from the tunnel after half-time.

Wenger has admitted that he wanted to take Sanchez off at the break but the forward insisted he was fit to continue, but he was eventually taken off twenty minutes in to the second half after continuing to struggle.

The boss told Arsenal.com after the game that he isn’t sure how bad the injury is or if Sanchez will be out of action for any period of time.

on Alexis…

Sanchez got a knock on his knee. I don’t think he was himself. From the moment he got this knock, he was never really comfortable. I don’t know for how long he will be out and whether he will be out or not. I haven’t seen the doctor.

on whether he was ok to take Alexis off…

Yes I was ready to take him off at half-time but he said, ‘no it’s okay, I can go on’. When I watched him play I thought, ‘No, that hasn’t [got better]’. Sometimes when you run it off it’s just a kick but he became worse and I didn’t see him in the second half.

However, Wenger later played down the injury after telling the Mirror newspaper that it doesn’t look bad:

“Alexis Sanchez does not look bad, a kick on the knee.”

It will be a huge relief if it’s nothing more than a painful knee from Upson’s kick. Sanchez admitted after the match on Twitter that he was perhaps foolish to carry on despite the injury but hopefully he didn’t make it any worse and he’ll be back in action soon.

However, one man who looks certain for another spell on the sidelines is Aaron Ramsey. The Welshman lasted less than ten minutes after coming on midway through the second half as he pulled up clutching his hamstring in the 82nd minute.

The midfielder was immediately replaced and Wenger told the clubs website that although he can’t put a time-frame on how long he’ll be out for, on first impressions the injury didn’t look good.

It’s the third time Ramsey has been sidelined by a hamstring injury this season alone and the boss is stumped as to why he keeps suffering the same injury but insists it has nothing to do with him being overplayed.

Wenger continued:

on Aaron Ramsey’s hamstring injury…

It looks like it. I don’t know how bad it is yet. Just visually, it didn’t look good. When a guy stops straight away and sits down, that’s not good news. There’s a recurrence now of a few muscular injuries and it’s difficult – we haven’t found out why. I basically left him out today because I wanted to be cautious with him. I had to bring him on – I had a hesitation between Flamini and him – because we lacked a a bit of offensive power. It was not the best of decisions.

on his third hamstring injury this season…

Yes. Last year was a thigh but this year it’s a recurrence of hamstrings. You cannot say it’s no worry because after the player doesn’t play with the freedom in mind.

on whether he will get an extended rest…

He’s not overplayed. Before I never looked at him, I just played him in every game but since he’s had these problems I’m a bit more cautious with him.

Ramsey’s injury concerns this season are a real worry and go a long way to explaining his inconsistent form. We’ll have to wait for further news but it looks like he’ll be out for at least two to three weeks, if not longer, which is a blow as we have an important run of fixtures coming up in the league, FA Cup and Champions League.