The return of Alexis Sanchez is much anticipated among Arsenal fans, particularly in the wake of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Stoke.
The Chilean returned late from his extended summer holidays, and suffered an abdominal strain in training which has further delayed his comeback, but he is expected to be fit enough to take part in next weekend’s trip to Anfield.
However, Arsene Wenger says it’s a lot to expect him to find his best form straight away, and warned that he’ll need some time to get up to speed.
“We’ll see how he goes through the week,” said the manager. “He has not played for a long time.
“He was out with a muscular strain and hopefully he will survive the tests first before he comes back.
“He’s not played now for six weeks and it’s difficult to be at your best in the first game straight away.”
Given our issues with finishing during the Stoke game, his established firepower can’t come back soon enough.
Hit the ground running FFS!
It’s Özil’s fault.
I see you already got a bite on the other article.
Will he play at wingback or in central midfield at Anfield? What do you think?
Don’t be facetious mate, we’re gonna play him at CB, obvz
His new position is waterboy but it will take some time to find top form. Expect top delivery of h2o around christmas.
nope he’s our new sweeper in the new 1-2-2-2-2-1 formation
Watched the highlights against Stoke once again. We should have had 4 penalties in that match. On top of that the Lacazette goal was disallowed. Can’t expect the players to give their best in such hostile conditions. This group has it all but the only problem is their first instinct is to look for counter attack when they don’t have the ball. Zero positional discipline. Xhaka rushed towards the ball as soon as he lost it in the build up to Jese goal. Ozil and Chamberlain were jogging back whilst hoping somebody in the defence will get the ball and… Read more »
Just lock the players in the dressing room with Jens Lehmann for a couple of hours after a crap defensive performance like that. That should do the trick.
They might run away and not come back.
Jen’s hairdryer isn’t any better than Baldy Bouldy. What we need is replication for every position. We see Lacazette has further pushed Giroud into better form already (those two touches were WORLD CLASS… had immediate impact and frankly sublime) We need to make sure we can replicate the long range passing of Granit bc right now, we are highly reliant on him. We also have to make sure we have another creator further forward like Ozil bc even though his body language may suggest otherwise, he presented for us two of the best passes to split their defense only for… Read more »
Agree that we need a cb and cm but not that the team ‘has it all’. The invincibles had it all – including and most importantly – balls. They rarely bottled goal scoring chances, had leaders all over the field, actually bothered communicating with one another, they were ruthless in the counter, they played like they were a goal down at 0-0 if you get what I mean, and had an urgency and desire to win whatever the cost. They didn’t win every single game either, but when they lost at least you could see they gave it their all… Read more »
Or we could just, you know, play guys in the right positions. We need a new CDM though.
We could have the best centre back the world has ever seen but without defensive DISCIPLINE alongside him he would look ordinary! The whole team lacks discipline and a proper game plan ! Also WHY when we play teams who we KNOW will pack their defence do we not play with a TWO striker system ? I’m sure if Laccazette who is a good finisher fed off knock downs etc from Giroud he would thrive !
What’s the point of keeping Alexis if and when Liverpool beat us next week….effectively ending our league season.
He hasn’t been sold as he was supposed to help with our ‘title challenge’ (*cough*).
Losing to Liverpool will give us a few days to get rid.
Well you’re a chipper fellow aren’t you?
Sounds to me that Arsene is laying the groundwork for him not actually playing against Liverpool. Expecting him to be deemed not quite ready in time for the match.
Bet he turns in 90 mins for Chile on 31st too.
Unfortunately I wouldn’t bet against either of those.
Or a 60th minute sub appearance.
Cue Sanchez playing centre of the back 3!
He will start firing them in from the first game then
Just sell him to ManCity or anybody interested
Thats a very good idea. Sell our best player to another premier team. You are a genius
Can’t say I’m feeling everyone else’s anger. I’d prepared myself for this. Think we’ll fight for a top 4 place, probably missing out. The atmosphere will be toxic. We’ll play some great stuff at times and I think we’ll score a fair amount of goals. We’ll concede far too many for a title challenge. Same manager, mainly the same players and the same board. Last season we were better than the season before but others improved at a faster rate. I haven’t seen anything to suggest that this won’t be the same script. All the other managers seem to have… Read more »
Well said Richard, I agree with every point you made. Wenger stumbles on formations which work for limited times only. Rambo/Xhaka does not work and never will. Ozil taking up an attacking position but provides no goal threat or general physicality hinders the side. I do hope Chambers is not fit as I don’t get why he isn’t on the bench at all as well as Holding when we have 2 competent LBs playing LCB and CB over them. What is the point of Mert being on the bench in this situation? If he’s not good enough to start then… Read more »
I get the unfortunate feeling that we might regret not selling Alexis Alexis this summer. Not only because of his contract situation but because of fitness issues, for a player who hasn’t rested nor has had a pre-season in 3 seasons… It’s certainly a factor in his recent muscle ‘strain’ and we can’t rule it out from happening seeing that he will obviously be overplayed before even the turn of the year. Dennis, I hope I’m wrong though…
We know that already; but an off-form Alexis is ten times better than the “fit and running” Welbeck. If Alexis were in that match against Stoke, I am certain we’d be three points better on the log.
I honestly do not care if he needs time to find his form or who stays or leaves anymore. All I know is if we do not get a player who does the work Santi does for us then this season is kind of pointless. It has always been happening to our teams for the past 10 years. Always missing one thing. One year I remember we were crying out for a defensive leader, at one point all we needed was a clinical finisher, then we needed a midfield maestro, then a goalkeeper… We always seem to get what we… Read more »
Santi is great but any player can have a mare or go out of form for a streak, so even if he was fit we’d need an equivalent engine in midfield. I’d argue Xhaka, Ramsey etc. should be enough. Our whole squad is full of talent. We just need proper discipline and strategy drilled in to them. We lost to Stoke FFS. Their players are generally shite. This is not about player quality it’s about attitude and discipline, and a bit of luck. On another day we’d have won that exact same game 3-1. Looking for improvements in finishing asap… Read more »
He probably needs another 12 months to find his best form elsewhere
Wish Wenger would go after Christian Pulisic from Dortmund. He is going to be the best American player ever and is not only good enough to play for us but would bring huge presence in the States. #commercialmoney
they’d not sell him until or unless the Dembele situation is resolved and Dembele stays. Probably not even then. Why would he leave?
The new Dutch Dortmund coach has the players gushing about how well prepared they are. They thumped Wolfsburg, who are coached by Andries Jonker, ex Arsenal, who seems to have taken on the Wenger Preparation Manual ie none at all. Defensive chaos apparently.
If he’s playing for us…its more than good enough.
We miss is graft, skill and South American unpredictability.
Play him into the ground and sell him back to Barca at a cut rate in January.
Why Barca don’t come back for Alexis is beyond me.
They look a mess.
I mean there is no shame to bring back one of your brightest prospects now one of the top operators in the world.
IT would help keep Messi at the club too I feel otherwise if they lose him, they will truly be in a pickle.
Worry about succession a year or two down. Grab Alexis now.
Of course I’d prefer Alexis to stay at Arsenal but if we are going to get a good offer from offshore (even Barca) we should sell and reinforce quickly.