Football
ESPN staff 8y

Arsene Wenger defends playing Alexis Sanchez as Arsenal injuries mount

Arsene Wenger has defended his decision to play Alexis Sanchez against Norwich City as both the forward and Laurent Koscielny limped off injured during Arsenal's 1-1 Premier League draw at Carrow Road on Sunday.

Koscielny was replaced after 11 minutes with an apparent back strain, but Arsenal took the lead as Sanchez set up Mesut Ozil for a fine finish on 30 minutes.

Lewis Grabban then turned Koscielny's replacement Gabriel in the Arsenal penalty area before equalising two minutes from half-time, while Sanchez departed on the hour with a thigh problem.

Wenger was tempted to rest the Chile international for Sunday's trip to Carrow Road after a "little hamstring alarm" in the midweek Champions league win against Dinamo Zagreb, and the Gunners could now be without Sanchez for a busy festive fixture list.

The coach told Sky Sports after the game that he would have rested Sanchez had the forward not insisted he was fit to play, saying: "Of course we are concerned but you go through spells like this in the season. We were a bit below par today but at least we didn't lose.

"Santi Cazorla finished on one leg, he has a knee problem, Alexis Sanchez has a thigh problem and Laurent Koscielny has a hip problem.

"I would have rested Sanchez today but he said to me before the game he was fine to play."

Speaking to BBC Sport after the game, Wenger said: "We lost Alexis Sanchez. I do not know how long he will be out but it is a big blow. Sanchez was an important loss today -- he pushes defenders back and always is incisive with his dribbling."

Wenger added in his postmatch news conference: "He says it is a kick on his hamstring, I believe that is not really the reality. I fear it is not the reality."

Wenger was disappointed with the draw, and feels his side did not show enough in the second half to earn the three points which would have sent them level on points with league leaders Manchester City.

"The quality of the performance was below what we can do offensively," he said. "In the second half Norwich had good chances and we were playing against a team that is physically clever. They defend deep to catch up on the counter attack and we were a bit jaded, not as sharp as usual."

Norwich boss Alex Neil was delighted that the Canaries were able to recover from going a goal down after John Ruddy's poor clearance, telling BBC Sport: "We conceded the first goal and at that point I thought we had pressed the self-destruct button, but we showed great character to get back into the game.

"In the second half we started a bit slow and invited Arsenal onto us, but as the half wore on I thought we were the better team.

"Getting the balance right for us was important. At the start of the season we played well but weren't solid enough. Then we became more solid but didn't have enough quality going forward. I thought we got a better balance today."

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