Chilean forward Sanchez is facing a three week lay-off with the hamstring injury which saw him limp off at Norwich on Sunday. “I could take a gamble on one”.
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Insisting he would like for premier league teams to progress to the latter stages of the competition, the Chelsea boss revealed he would be making an exception in Arsenal’s case. The draw meant Arsenal slipped to fourth after failing to win for a third league game, but Spaniard Bellerin said there were plenty of others that could follow his path from academy to first team and keep up the pursuit of leaders Manchester City.
Wenger however admitted that he considered it, but that Sanchez himself said he wanted to, and was fit to play.
Arsenal are facing up to the prospect of being without the hugely influential Alexis Sánchez and Santi Cazorla for their decisive Champions League group game against Olympiakos next week, though initial assessments of Laurent Koscielny’s fitness are more promising.
The Wales midfielder had been sidelined since October, but returned as a substitute in the Gunners’ convincing midweek win against Dinamo Zagreb.
Mesut Ozil put the Gunners in front with a sublime finish at the edge of the box after a good pass from Alexis Sanchez but Lewis Grabban equalized from close range just before the break, after poor defending from the visitors. If a guy says no then he might as well leave the club.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has acknowledged that his side has gone through a “bad spell” in the last few weeks and backed Aaron Ramsey to fill the central midfield void created by numerous injuries, as per the club’s official website. “With 20 minutes to go at 3-0, you can give him a little rest”, he said.
“But my situation is a bit different – you want to take your chance even more because you don’t want to spend big periods out of the starting XI”.
“Obviously I would like to think the 14 hours traveling, playing away with Chile for the World Cup in South America, doesn’t help”.
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We’ve had a steady stream of Arsenal supporters into the Football Transfer Tavern this evening and it’s fair to say that the Gooners aren’t happy! I must say with all our humility, we are not in a position to predict. We are not in a position where we can predict. Despite our tests he looked alright.
