Premier League review: Arsenal must look deeper into injury crisis after Alexis Sanchez limps off at Norwich

Sanchez finally reaches breaking point

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but, in the case of Alexis Sánchez, it is fair to say that just about everyone, including Arsène Wenger, had feared it could come to this. Sánchez was playing in his 90th football match on Sunday since joining Arsenal only 16 months ago and even his resistance had its limits.

Arsenal await with some trepidation the results of a scan on their talisman's hamstring. It is easy now to say that Sánchez should have been rested against Norwich City and perhaps on Saturday against Sunderland before the decisive Champions League match against Olympiakos next Wednesday. That would have given the Chile international a two-week break ahead of fixtures against Olympiakos, Aston Villa, Manchester City and then the crammed Christmas schedule when teams will play three times in seven days.

It might have worked but, in analysing how it has come to this not just in respect of Sanchez but also Francis Coquelin, Laurent Koscielny and Santi Cazorla, Arsenal must surely look a little deeper. Sánchez is clearly not some injury-prone player but there are others in the squad who, sadly, do fit that description. It was the collective absence again of so many of these players that has put an additional stress on the likes of Coquelin, Cazorla and Sánchez during these past few months.

That is where Arsenal’s current problem started and, whether the blame lies in Wenger’s training methods or simply a misguided confidence in too many players who are stuck in a vicious circle of injuries, it is this repeated wider trend that must ultimately be tackled to minimise the risk of a Sánchez, Cazorla or Mesut Ozil being overburdened.

Injuries are part of football but, in recent years, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Tomas Rosicky and Kieran Gibbs have, to differing degrees, become far more familiar with the treatment room than Wenger would have liked. Yet he has still always kept complete faith in these players to provide the core of his squad. This summer, for example, was it really better to extend the contracts of Rosicky and Arteta rather than put their wages towards a younger addition such as Morgan Schneiderlin?

It is impossible to generalise and each case can only be considered on an individual basis but, when the next round of contract talks start with some of the other recently injured players, the cycle may only be broken if some tough decisions are faced.

Jeremy Wilson

Liverpool must build on momentum in January

When the fixture list was published last summer, the fear at Anfield was they would need binoculars to see the top four by Christmas.

• Harry Redknapp's Premier League team of the weekend

The schedule was horrific with consecutive away fixtures against their six rivals for the top places. Before December Liverpool would play Manchester United, Arsenal, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Manchester City away. Throw in Stoke City at The Britannia Stadium and it was the worst selection of road trips since Steve Martin hooked up with John Candy.

Of the 21 points available from those seven demanding fixtures, Liverpool have taken 12 and lost just once. Today they find themselves a mere four points from fourth and six from the top. If you had offered this position to club owners Fenway Sports Group last August, they would have enthusiastically taken it.

The confidence that was sapping when it was decided Brendan Rodgers had taken their side has far as he could as now been replaced by a growing belief there is a nettle to grasp in the New Year.

It has been a running joke at Anfield that every season the side is ‘one or two quality players’ from being of capable of competing for the title. It is laughed at because pretty much any top six side can make the same observation, and invariably when Liverpool do make those one, two, three, four or seven new additions they tend to need two years to adjust to English football. Worse, they become the subject of online galleries with each new recruit declared a ‘hit’ or ‘miss’.

Yet the feeling has grown again that the first signings of the Jürgen Klopp era will dictate how far and quickly he can propel this team. It is extraordinary enough he is likely to go into the January transfer window fending off further questions about a title bid or the possibility of Champions League qualification.

There is no way Liverpool would have lured Klopp without promising funds for his own players when he felt strengthening necessary and the German coach will undoubtedly be assessing whether the time to strike is immediately or at the end of the season.

The state of the Premier League table must now be a factor. If the quality is available, Liverpool should move in the transfer market in January with at least one, possibly two additions to make some more noise in this campaign. With the title favourites failing to make any meaningful statements, Liverpool must be thinking about the possibilities of the here and now, illogical as that might seem given Klopp inevitably needs far longer to build a side of his own. He is demonstrating a period of transition need not be a barrier to success.

Liverpool must also calculate what others will be doing at the end of this season. Chelsea cannot be so poor again in a year, City will surely allow the uninspiring Manuel Pellegrini to move on, and United will eventually tire of Louis Van Gaal’s conservatism as they join the scramble for Pep Guardiola.

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For Liverpool, a season that began with torture and then became one of development has suddenly evolved into one of opportunity.

That has as much to do with the defects of others as ‘the Klopp factor’ but Liverpool are primed to take advantage.

Klopp has correctly pointed out his squad is not yet fully equipped to meet excessive expectations or to demonstrate it is the best team in the country, but if his first few months in English football has taught him anything it is this: at the moment, neither is anyone else’s.

Chris Bascombe

Does Ashley stick or twist?

Newcastle United’s owner, Mike Ashley, is now involved in a high-stakes game of stick or twist with head coach Steve McClaren, which could have dire consequences for both of them.

Does he stick with a man who has brought no progress in results on the pitch in almost six months in charge, despite spending more than £50m net on new players in the summer transfer window? Or does he go above managing director Lee Charnley’s head and demand his removal because David Moyes, a manager Newcastle have tried to appoint in the past, is out of work?

Ashley is a very loyal man. He does not tend to sack people and former manager Alan Pardew survived far worse spells than this, but the supporters are starting to turn against McClaren and he desperately needs something positive to shelter him from abuse.

The problem is, having read the riot act to his senior players last week, they responded with another diabolical performance at Crystal Palace. It gives the impression they don’t listen to him when he’s calm and they don’t listen to him when he’s angry.

McClaren is a smooth media operator, but he cannot hide the facts with spin and the help of a sports psychologist. He is floundering.

This Newcastle squad isn’t nearly as good as the hierarchy believed, but they still should not be in the bottom three. So who takes the blame?

For me, the attitude of a large number of Newcastle players is atrocious, but McClaren was brought in to get to grips with that issue, which stretches back years, not months. He has failed to do that and the team remains as flaky now as it was when he arrived.

Charnley will not sack McClaren because it was his decision to appoint him, even though he had turned them down before. He was the man Ashley trusted to make all footballing decisions this season in a bid to improve things after last season’s latest brush with relegation. Charnley and McClaren’s fates seem intertwined.

That bodes well for McClaren, because Ashley like Charnley, but they cannot simply ignore the fact the team are going backwards again when a new multi-million pound television deal is at stake.

Newcastle have managed two league wins this season, both against opponents who were in the Championship last season and one of those, against Bournemouth, was secured with one attack and one shot on target.

When the season started in August, managing director Charnley sent an email directly to season ticket holders boasting about the £54m they had spent on new players over the summer and to state the club were aiming for a top eight finish with McClaren as their head coach.

On Saturday, after his team had been mauled 5-1 by Crystal Palace in another abject waving of the collective white flag, McClaren was adamant they are in a relegation battle. That would appear to be at opposite ends of the expectation and reality chart.

The club has failed again, despite the heavy spending, to build a team. They had already decided who to sign this summer before McClaren arrived and have once again brought young, foreign players with potential and no experience of the Premier League. They bought individuals without any real consideration how to make them into a team.

That was the job they entrusted to McClaren, but at the moment he is struggling just as badly as his hapless predecessor John Carver, who became the punchline to so many jokes last season.

There is no hiding place for McClaren. He has been let down by those above him in terms of recruitment, as well as the ludicrous decision to give Fabricio Coloccini a new contract rather than sign the experienced centre-back McClaren wanted, but he came into the job with his eyes wide open.

He cannot now expect us to close our eyes to the truth. He has not improved this Newcastle team at all. Results prove that.

Ashley is watching and he is worried. At the moment, it looks like he will stick but if Newcastle are still in the bottom three at Christmas, he will surely have to twist.

As for Moyes, he will hold all the right cards to get him to scrap the failed recruitment model that has let Newcastle down again this summer.

Ashley imposes that model rigidly, but if he is finally willing to change the head coach and/or management structure because of the predicament it has put the business in, he has to move quickly.

If he does not change either, the majority of Newcastle supporters will start planning for trips to Leeds again next season.

Luke Edwards

Situation critical for Aston Villa

Rémi Garde's appointment at Aston Villa has failed to deliver the expected bounce, bar the brave stalemate with Manchester City, and the squad appear dreadfully ill-equipped for the demands of a relegation battle.

But the pressure now is undoubtedly on wantaway chairman Randy Lerner, who simply has to make funds available in January to save their season.

Lerner has been desperate to sell the club for over two years, rarely attends games and remains the most popular target for supporters looking for a scapegoat for Villa's alarming decline.

We are frequently told how much he loves the club but he can only prove those soundbites are accurate by backing Garde in this transfer window.

Garde needs at least three star signings to have any chance of mounting a rescue mission. It could require around £30 million (we're talking proper established players here) but surely Lerner realises how serious and desperate the situation is?

He famously spent £18 million on Darren Bent in January 2011 and it arguably needs another significant spend to give Villa a fighting chance.

Villa coughed up over £50 million this summer but much of that came from the sales of Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph so it doesn't need a mathematician to point out that the net spend wasn't vast.

Relegation would have severe ramifications for Lerner, especially with the mammoth TV deal coming into play next year, and undoubtedly damage his hopes of finally selling the club.

Drastic action is needed to revive the former European Cup winners - and it is time for Lerner to deliver.

John Percy

Pellegrini prays for end to injuries

If you caught Manuel Pellegrini down on one knee, delivering a little pre-Advent prayer this morning it would be no surprise. The last thing he will have needed going into the Festive madness was another injury to one of his big five key players.

While he tried to play down what happened to Sergio Agüero against Southampton, claiming his substitution was no more than precautionary even as the Argentine hobbled grimacing to his car following what appeared to be a serious twist of his ankle, the manager will know that further disruption to his forward line will seriously damage his title hopes.

The fact is, if Pellegrini had been able to play all of Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Touré, David Silva and Agüero together for more than just the first five games of the season, the title would already be his. However well Kevin De Bruyne played against Southampton on Saturday (and he was excellent scoring one and making another) it is that gilded quintet who make the manager's life a breeze. Get them back in harness and the race will quickly be over. Another injury and things will remain in flux.

Jim White

Off the ball - by Alan Tyers

Spokespeople of the day

West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis invited some young West Ham fans to join him for his press conference at Upton Park on Sunday. They probably made every bit as much sense as the average post-match managerial interviews.

Tweet of the weekend

Celtic striker Anthony Stokes leads the way in the sarcasm stakes

Offer of the week

Wayne Rooney, so often missing in big games, was found safe and well at a World Wrestling Entertainment publicity stunt recently. Former team-mate Roy Keane, predictably, disapproved: “Why is he getting involved in all that nonsense?” thundered Keano. But unlikely aid came for Wayne in the 6ft 7in, 246lb shape of wrestler Wade Barrett, who tweeted: “If Roy Keane’s looking for a piece, I’ll batter him too.” This is what pay-per-view should be showing.

Ceremony of the weekend

Here is Xabi Alonso enjoying himself at a Bayern Munich supporters’ club event, with the traditional Bavarian pastime of nail hammering, in which a player has to hammer nails. Into wood. And they say the Germans have no sense of humour.