Alexis Sánchez will be available for this weekend’s trip to Crystal Palace, according to the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger.
Sánchez was not expected to be match fit so soon after helping Chile win their maiden Copa América title last month but Wenger has confirmed the forward, who came off the bench in Sunday’s 2-0 defeat by West Ham, is ready to play from the off at Selhurst Park. “Alexis Sánchez is fit,” he said. “He has been working hard and is ready for the weekend.”
However, there was not such good news on Tomas Rosicky, the Czech midfielder, who Wenger expects to be missing for a significant period of time. “Tomas has had surgery on his knee,” he said. “His agent said he will be out for one or two months but it will be longer. How long exactly, we don’t know yet.”
Wenger also confirmed Jack Wilshere is making a good recovery from the hairline fracture to his right fibula suffered on the eve of Arsenal’s win over Chelsea in the Community Shield earlier this month.
Reports suggested the England international could be out for up to two months but the manager insisted it would only be a matter of weeks before the 23-year-old would be back in action.
“We said Jack would be out for four weeks and he’s in the second week now so he’s on schedule,” Wenger said. Héctor Bellerín is expected to return on Sunday afternoon after missing the game against West Ham with a slight muscular injury.