Quantcast

Arsenal star set to miss Southampton as Wenger hints at rotation

By on September 9, 2016

alexis sanchez arsenal

Alexis Sanchez could be rested tomorrow following his late return from international duty with Arsene Wenger hinting he’s ready to give some key players a breather ahead of the Paris Saint-Germain clash next week.

Sanchez flew back to London late on Thursday night following his trip to South America during the international break and Arsene says he’ll make a late decision over whether to include the Chilean superstar against Southampton on Saturday.

Given that Alexis will be tired following his long-haul flight and will have less than 48 hours to recover before the Saints clash, I can understand why Wenger is tempted to leave him out of the starting eleven this weekend.

Fatigue is a prime cause for injury and the last thing we need is risking Sanchez against the Saints and him picking up a knock – especially as we’ve got a big Champions League clash with PSG on Tuesday.

And Sanchez may not be the only player rested tomorrow as Wenger has hinted that he could give ‘a few’ other players a rest ahead of the trip to Paris next week.

The boss told Arsenal.com:

on team news…
I haven’t seen Alexis and David Ospina because they arrived late last night. Everyone looks alright.

on if it will be a risk to play Alexis after travel…
That’s a decision I have to make because we play on Tuesday night so I will see. I have to make that decision in the next 24 hours.

on how the international break disrupts organisation…
I could focus on the players that stayed here for the two weeks, and see how everybody comes back, maybe rest a few because we play again on Tuesday. The fact that I have a very complete squad [makes] these decisions easier.

No doubt Alexis will be keen to play tomorrow but I’d back the boss to leave him on the bench as with Olivier Giroud match fit, Lucas Perez in the squad and Alex Iwobi available again after recovering from a thigh strain, we have plenty of options in attack.

Team news: update on Mustafi, Perez, Ramsey

However, I hope we don’t see Wenger make too many changes as it’s been a disappointing start to the season and three points tomorrow are vital. Southampton are no mugs so we shouldn’t be taking them too lightly be resting players ahead of the PSG game.

One Comment

  1. Pingback: Arsenal Fanatik » Arsenal star set to miss Southampton as Wenger hints at rotation

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *