after playing through discomfort to score in
Arsenal's 4-1 Premier League win at Stoke City on
Saturday.
The Chile international signalled that he needed to
come off in the second half at bet365 stadium,
where he then struck to put the visitors 3-1 ahead
in the 76th minute, before being replaced by Aaron
Ramsey 60 seconds later.
The future of Sanchez has been the subject of
speculation as the Gunners battle to qualify for the
Champions League, with the former Barcelona and
Udinese forward's body language having been
questioned at times in a campaign of struggle.
But Wenger, who has offered the 28-year-old
plenty of public support in recent weeks, again
talked up the striker's determination.
"The physios told me Alexis Sanchez wanted to
come off, I don't know what it was, but he's a
fighter and found the resources to score an
excellent goal after," he said.
"I just think he has shown again that it's not about
talent but desire too and fighting spirit and he has
that as well."
Wenger's situation is also a topic of intense
debate, as many Arsenal supporters demand the
Frenchman - out of contract at the end of the
season - makes way for a change in leadership.
However, after beating Manchester United,
Southampton and now Stoke in the last three
matches, the 67-year-old showed few signs of
backing down in the face of strident criticism.
"We had a difficult week but we've won
convincingly so the focus is there, the fighting
spirit is there and we're pleased to win," Wenger
said.
"I believe when the team plays well we have the
right individual talent to win.
"When they scored the 'hand-goal' they came back
but when you go to places like Stoke you need at
some stage to suffer and stick together and that's
what we did.
"When we went 3-1 up that was game over."
0 Comments