Héctor Bellerín is out of action for an estimated four weeks, leaving Arsenal with a problem at the right-back position the young Spaniard has excelled in.
Arsène Wenger is short of back-up as Mathieu Debuchy has been sidelined with a calf injury, while Carl Jenkinson has only just returned from cruciate ligament damage. “Bellerín got injured in the last 10 seconds against Spurs after a very strong tackle by Danny Rose,” said Wenger.
That is one of the complications the Arsenal manager is considering ahead of this Saturday’s early kick-off against Manchester United. As far as his attack is concerned, Wenger feels at the mercy of the “honesty” of Alexis Sánchez when it comes to an injury threat and potential availability. Arsenal’s in-form forward, who played for Chile in midweek and was set to return to London at 4pm on Thursday, played despite a hamstring alert. Having scored twice for his country, Sánchez’s fitness will be assessed on Friday morning before making a decision before the trip to Old Trafford.
“What I will consider is the risk of injury because he played while recovering from a hamstring injury,” Wenger said. “I’ll consider the way he feels as well. On that front you depend on the honesty of the player, how they feel and how they recover.
“We were in doubt 24 hours before the game against Uruguay. We didn’t know if he’d play or not. In the end they decided to play him. He texted us to tell us he’s in good shape after the game. He came off after 84 minutes and now we have to wait. I see him tomorrow morning and then I will see if he can be involved in the squad or not.”
Fitness permitting, Sánchez is likely to be involved from the bench, with Olivier Giroud expected to start at Manchester United.
Wenger added: “You have to trust the medical people from Chile. I completely understand that Alexis wanted to play in qualifiers – they’re not friendlies. Chile are not in a fantastic position to qualify for the World Cup and I understand that Alexis is keen to play for his country in such an important game. After that, it’s a difficult period in November because it’s the first time when some of the players have played many games. Most of the time it’s a decisive period in the Champions League because it’s game number five and, for most of the clubs it’s a very important time in the Champions League. In the Premier League, the first decisive games are also coming up so it’s a period where you can pay a heavy price. We lost important players in November for long periods last year.”
“We go into a period of big games, one after another. The way we deal with these kinds of games will be very important to our position in the league and our ambitions. I believe we are on a very strong run of 16 games unbeaten. We had a little hiccup against Tottenham at home, but now we want to start winning our games again, and this is an opportunity to do that on Saturday.”
As is usually the case these days, Wenger tried to avoid any verbal flare ups on the subject of José Mourinho. “Look, I don’t think I have to describe our relationship. He will fight for his team and I will fight for my team and I think that’s completely normal,” said the Frenchman, before saying he will shake hands with the man leading the opposite dugout. “Of course. I respect the ritual that is so important in the Premier League.”