Arsene Wenger says Norwich player’s shove ‘could have killed’ Arsenal’s star man Alexis Sanchez last week

Arsene Wenger believes Norwich defender Ryan Bennett "could have killed" Alexis Sanchez when he pushed him into the Carrow Road camera pit last weekend.

The Chile forward landed heavily in the cameraman's area on the touchline during an incident in the first half and was later forced off with a hamstring injury.

With Sanchez now likely to be sidelined for a number of weeks, Wenger defended his decision to play the 26-year-old in the 1-1 draw against Norwich on Sunday.

Having felt his hamstring after the Champions League victory over Dinamo Zagreb, Wenger said all of the club's medical tests showed he was in peak fitness to start at Carrow Road.

While the Frenchman said he is happy to take the blame for the number of injuries being accrued by his squad - he also pointed to Sanchez being pushed into the camera area as a potential reason for this latest blow and feels it could have been worse for the former Barcelona man.

"First of all it's dangerous to have a camera there," Wenger said.

"He could have killed him. Secondly, he (Bennett) didn't need to push him like he did. I think the camera position was absolutely dangerous.

"When he was pushed into the boards on the side of the field that did not shock anybody. That injury can come from that as well. I'm not expert enough to know but if you want to blame me I'm okay with it."

Bennett tweeted after the match to give his side of the incident, writing: "Genuinely was trying to stop not push Sanchez just to clear that up."

By the time Sanchez then limped out of the contest in the second half, Arsenal had already lost Laurent Koscielny to a hip injury while Santi Cazorla was playing on despite taking a blow to his knee.