Wenger Offers Injury Update On Alexis Sanchez

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has offered an update on the fitness of Alexis Sanchez and admitted the attacker was ‘not himself’ during our 2-1 win over Leicester City.

Sanchez picked up a knee injury midway through the first half on Tuesday night after a heavy tackle from Matthew Upson and was eventually substituted in the 68th minute after struggling to run-off the knock.

It was an unusually subdued display from the Chilean international as up until now, his tireless work-rate has been a key feature to his game, as well as chipping in with 18 goals in his 32 appearances.

Wenger has now admitted that Sanchez wasn’t himself against the Foxes in midweek but isn’t sure if it was solely down to the knee problem.

“He had not the same intensity in his game as he had until now,” Wenger is quoted as saying by the BBC

“I’m not sure he was free in his head to sprint as he used to. I don’t know if it was down to the kick he got on his knee, but he was not himself.”

Prior to the Leicester match, it’s worth remembering that Sanchez had missed our previous two games against Aston Villa and Spurs with a hamstring strain and he was still carrying that injury slightly when he played on Tuesday, so no doubt that also had a negative effect on his performance.

The 26-year-old is considered a major doubt to face Middlesbrough in our FA Cup fifth round clash this afternoon and Wenger has revealed that Sanchez is still suffering from a swollen knee and ‘can not move well’.

However, the boss insists the injury is nothing serious and if he doesn’t feature against Boro today, then he’ll be back in the squad to face Crystal Palace next weekend. Wenger continued:

“He has a swollen knee and he cannot move well, but it’s only a kick, nothing else,”

“If he’s not available for Sunday, he will be available next week.”

Alexis did take part in training on Saturday but I hope we don’t take any risks with him and rush him back too soon. We have plenty of options in attack and more than enough quality to beat Middlesbrough without him, so let’s give Sanchez time to fully recover and he’ll be back to his best soon.