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.
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While Henry found his compatriot culpable for allowing Alexis to indulge in excessive game-time, he understands the pressure placed on Wenger that necessitates his constant use of the club’s best players. It is thought that he was planning to rest Sanchez against Sunderland on Saturday or Aston Villa the following week although former captain Thierry Henry has questioned why he did not bring Sanchez off when Arsenal were comfortably beating Dinamo Zagreb last Tuesday.
In the post game press conference at Norwich, a hostile and defensive Wenger answered allegations that Sanches may have been feeling the hamstring injury already before the match. You are playing for the title and you come here [to Norwich] and you need to win.
The north London outfit need to win by two clear goals in order to qualify for the knockout rounds.
Defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin is expected to be out for three months after suffering ligament damage, while Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky and Mikel Arteta are also out.
Wenger added: “At the moment we have – on the striker front – not much choice, Maybe the travelling as well to South America…I would have rested him today but he felt perfectly all right before the game and he declared that he had no problem”. “But we are still not far, and going through that spell and still not being far is alright”. We will have to assess the injury in the week.
“He says it’s a kick on his hamstring, I believe that’s not really the reality”.
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Mesut Ozil fired Arsenal ahead in the 30th minute at Carrow Road after Sanchez seized on a poor clearance by Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy that Gary O’Neil, the captain, could not control. While there are various reasons for Arsenal getting just a point from the game, with our injury problems and the home side’s commitment and desire two big aspects, I wanted to look at why Bellerin struggled to get into the game.
