Arsène Wenger has expressed concern that Alexis Sánchez, a player he regards as needing a breather, will have to travel to Arsenal’s Premier League match at West Bromwich Albion less than 24 hours after returning from a heavy international schedule.
Having played a full 90 minutes twice for Chile, and travelled within South America to play Uruguay in addition to his long-haul flights, Sánchez landed back in London only on Thursday night.
“I am worried because when he went to Chile he was already a bit jaded and we will have to test to see how he is when he gets back,” said Wenger. “But speaking to the player, if I ask him: ‘Are you tired?’ you can guess the answer.” Wenger smiled at the thought, knowing Sánchez is not the type to refuse any football, however intense his timetable.
The Arsenal manager wants to give Sánchez a break, and knows it is needed, but right now does not have the luxury of encouraging him to skip a game. The injury crisis that covers a cluster of players who can play in the wide attacking roles has not eased as was hoped during the international break. Wenger had predicted Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey would be back, with Theo Walcott not far behind. None are ready for the weekend.
“At the moment I am a bit short because with no Chamberlain, no Ramsey, no Walcott, no Wilshere, no Welbeck, there’s not much offensive positions where I can rotate,” he said.
“Chamberlain had a slight little setback on Monday but we checked by scan and there is nothing wrong. He is still a fraction short for Saturday. Ramsey had a deeper hamstring problem than Chamberlain but no setback. He will be back in full training on Monday and can play on Tuesday and Chamberlain I think against Norwich [next weekend]. Theo is ahead of schedule at the moment and it still is two weeks away.”
Olivier Giroud, along with Laurent Koscielny, will be assessed to see how he is coping with the stress of being caught up in Paris on the night of the terrorist attacks and both will travel to The Hawthorns only if Wenger feels they are in the right frame of mind to play with full concentration.