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Arsenal boss confirms fresh injury concern + Sanchez update

By on October 20, 2016

santi cazorla

Arsene Wenger has confirmed that he took Santi Cazorla off during Arsenal’s 6-0 win over Ludogorets on Wednesday night due to concerns over his achilles.

Cazorla once again started in midfield against the Bulgarian champions at the Emirates last night as we looked to take another step closer to securing qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

However, the Spaniard was withdrawn from the game early in the second half after he had just provided Mesut Ozil with a superb assist for the German’s first goal which put us 4-0 up in the 56th minute.

As the three points were secured, many assumed Wenger had decided to give Santi a well-earned rest, however, the boss has revealed that he took the midfielder off due to concerns over his achilles.

Wenger says that Cazorla was limping after taking a kick to the back of his achilles so he decided to substitute the Spaniard as soon as possible in order to prevent the problem getting any worse.

However, there was a reassuring update from the boss regarding Alexis Sanchez as Wenger says he took the Chilean off to give him a rest and not because of any injury problems.

The boss told Arsenal.com:

on Alexis coming off…

I just wanted to give him a breather. He looks alright physically.

on Santi Cazorla…

He got a kick and I took him off as quickly as possible. He got a kick on the back of his achilles tendon. In my view he was limping a little bit so I didn’t want to take a gamble.

Cazorla has been plagued by achilles problems over the past 18 months so it’s easy to understand why Arsene was cautious last night and it explains why the 31-year-old was seen applying ice to his ankle after being substituted.

Let’s hope the issue isn’t anything serious as Santi has been a key figure in our starting eleven this season and has played a big role in our recent good form.