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. I have a good relationship with him, if anyone breaks the rules or does something they shouldn’t they will be punished, it hasn’t been an issue, we have moved on.
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But he started on Sunday and Arsenal’s injury problems worsened in what Wenger said was a “below par performance”.
Wenger has stated on numerous occasions that his star performer is jaded and in need of a rest, but he has continued to play him in every Arsenal game and now faces a spell on the sidelines.
“I have said it before, there is great depth in the team”, he told Arsenal Player.
Arsene Wenger the Manager of Arsenal before the match between Arsenal and Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Champions League on November 24, 2015 in London, United Kingdom.
Heading into Sunday’s match, Arsenal were trailing Premier League leaders Manchester City and Leicester City, by just three points.
Norwich City goalkeeper, John Ruddy, gave the ball away to Alexis Sanchez who laid it for Ozil to slot home from inside the area.
“[Regret playing alexis?] No I don’t regret it”, he said.
Arsene Wenger admits he fears Alexis Sanchez is facing a lengthy lay-off. “We don’t want to have to play catch up but we will see at the end of the season and we will want to bounce back and get back to winning ways on Saturday”. I believe that’s not really the reality. We checked him, and when you have no force and no middle stretch in your hamstring, then there is no problem – and he had that.
“In the first half he [Cazorla] got a kick on the knee and it got worse”, added Wenger.
Walcott is set to be the next Arsenal player back after his calf problem but even his return is unlikely to be as quick as originally hoped as he has yet to return to full training and has only resumed running.
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“We need to push ourselves a bit more and play better football if we want to be at the top”.
