Arsène Wenger says that Alexis Sánchez’s style reminds him of a lion hunting its prey and he continues to be amazed at the forward’s durability.
The Arsenal manager reported that Sánchez had felt tightness in a hamstring after Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League – in which he scored two and set up the other one – and this would generally prompt panic among the club’s supporters.
But Wenger went on to say that the Chilean should be fine for Sunday’s Premier League visit to Norwich City, largely because of his remarkable powers of recovery.
“When he does something, he does it 100%,” Wenger said. “He finishes and you think: ‘He’s dead now.’ But then he recovers and gives 100% again. You always see signs of exhaustion but it’s not [that] because two days later, he’s fine.
“His style is very explosive, it’s a very committed style. Jamie Vardy [at Leicester City] is a bit similar. When they go, they go. They are like the lion. He has to catch the animal in the first 200 metres. If he doesn’t get there, he’s dead [on his feet] afterwards. They are these kind of killers. When they go, it is to kill and after, they have to stop.”
Wenger is dogged by the question of whether he ought to allow Sánchez an extended rest, given the prodigious number of minutes (and air miles) that the player has clocked up. He rarely misses for either club or country. But when push comes to shove, Arsenal always start him.
“I take information, especially from the medical people who know him and treat him everyday and after, we look at his overall recovery as well,” Wenger said. “When there are alarming signs, we want to make the right decision at the right moment but as long as the guys are confident, they score goals – it is always difficult to rest them.
“His resistance is remarkable. What is also remarkable is that he goes to South America to play, he comes back on Thursday night and on Saturday he can play without a problem, even if he’s jet-lagged. He would have been a perfect tennis player.”
Wenger believes that Sánchez’s toughness is the result of his upbringing in Tocopilla, a mining town in northern Chile where he would play street football with friends for hours and hours.
“You have to think that these type of players do not have the academic education that we give now to players at 15, 16 years of age, who have a physio every day,” Wenger said. “They are more street players, not pampered.”