Neither substitution may have prevented the hamstring injury that Sanchez picked up at Carrow Road, but managers have to be sensible in management of their influential players to ensure their availability for the whole season. Arsenal host fourth-from-bottom Sunderland in the league on Saturday.
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“I have said it before, there is great depth in the team”, he told Arsenal Player.
Centre-back Laurent Koscielny (hip), midfielder Santi Cazorla (knee) and Sanchez (hamstring) all suffered injuries during the match, and extended Arsenal FC’s walking wounded list to nine first team players.
But the likes of Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Tomas Rosicky and Mikel Arteta all in the treatment room alongside Coquelin, with a lack of central midfielders the main issue Wenger is likely to address if he buys in the transfer window.
“It may be that they are encouraged to behave in a certain way in certain situations that makes them more prone to injuries during the game”.
“He plays for Chile, travels 14 hours there and back, he plays every game but even when the game is won sometimes he will still go and put some pressure on teams…” When asked about this by reporters, Wenger responded sharply: “The players are there to play, not to be rested when (the) press decides when they need to be rested”.
“We made some mistakes that cost us the game and we need to look at ourselves and realise that this is not the way. At the moment we are a bit short because of injuries”. “But we are still not far, and going through that spell and still not being far is alright”.
“Alexis Sanchez has been in scintillating form and you could see Arsenal missed him when he went off”. We will have to assess them. I don’t know if he has jaded his knee ligament or he it was just a kick on the nerve but the worrying thing was it got worse during the game.
The Gunners have now drawn two and lost one of their last three Premier League games.
Henry does his best to defend Wenger in his comments to Sky Sports, but it is clear that he believes the Arsenal boss should have taken Sanchez out of the firing line.
Sheffield Wednesday will take more than 4,000 fans to the Britannia Stadium as Carlos Carvalhal’s side seek to repeat the kind of display with which they beat Arsenal 3-0 in the last round.
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Should they not manage this feat, it will be early losses to the Greek side and Dinamo Zagreb which will be blamed for their disappointing showing.
