With Alexis Sanchez being substituted with injury 12 minutes before the full time whistle in the weekend’s loss to West Bromwich Albion, manager Arsene Wenger gave a quick update on the Chile international.
Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media following the three one defeat at The Hawthorns, Wenger confirmed his substitution was forced owing to the ankle injury he picked up from a first half tackle.
‘He was injured from the tackle in the first half. It was a bad tackle. His ankle is in an absolutely terrible state. He should not have played in the second half but he insisted that he wanted to come out.’
Given Alexis got us back on level terms after West Brom had opened the scoring, clearly fans will see why Wenger was willing to let him stay on, we just have to hope the situation hasn’t been made worse because of that decision.
‘In the first half he was the one who created many chances, made dangerous situations and in the second half you could see that he couldn`t anymore. In the end we had to take him off. He should not even have played in the second half.’
Asked about whether he would now miss the games Chile have fixtured for during the March international break, Wenger ended by saying.
‘Chile goes to Argentina for a massive game but they play only next week and if it`s only a kick, he will play. If the ligament is damaged, he will not play.’
Hopefully he’ll get the international break off in any event now and have the extra days to recover from what everybody hopes is only a knock.
