Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois hoping wantaway Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez misses Community Shield

• e-mail

Chelsea goalkeeper Thiabut Courtois is hoping his team will face an Arsenal side lacking star man Alexis Sanchez in Sunday's Community Shield final.

The reigning Premier League champions will meet the FA Cup holders at Wembley with the season's first piece of silverware up for grabs.

Arsenal's preparations for the clash have been interrupted by continued speculation that Sanchez is headed to the exit door with the Chilean, who is due to return to training on Tuesday following illness, strongly linked to both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.

Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois looks on during the Champions Cup clash with Inter

Alexis Sanchez bears down on Courtois during a Premier League match in September

And Courtois has admitted it will be a big boost for his team should Sanchez be unable to feature against them.

'Alexis is a guy with a lot of quality,' the Belgium international told reporters. 'If you see all the games from last season there is a lot of danger coming from him.

'He has a very strong shot, he is quick. He has the technique. He is important for them but Arsenal have a lot of players with quality.

'So they will miss him but I think they have a lot of players with that quality to replace him. I think they have bought a good new striker (Alexandre Lacazette).

The wantaway Arsenal star has been strongly linked with Manchester City and PSG

'I'd prefer if he (Sanchez) doesn't play because he is a good player! But we cannot only look to him.

'For example in the FA Cup Final (Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 in May) they missed some defenders and everybody thought they would be bad. But Per Mertesacker played a great game that day.

 'So you cannot look to the team as one player or another player. It will be a difficult game regardless but I hope for the same outcome as the friendly last week.' 

Sanchez is back in London after boarding a flight back to the UK via Paris on Sunday