Stoke vs Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez credits Arsenal's 'beautiful style of football' and believes their quality is as good as Barcelona's
Sanchez feels Arsenal's style suits his technique after finding his feet since his Premier League move
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Your support makes all the difference.Alexis Sanchez has revealed that Arsenal’s style of “beautiful football” suits him more than Barcelona’s after adapting brilliantly to life in the Premier League.
The Chile international has received rave reviews since arriving at Arsenal in the summer in a £35m transfer, and has duly gone on to score 14 goals in 22 matches in all competitions. His latest saw him strike the 89th-minute match-winner in the 1-0 victory over Southampton on Wednesday night.
Having been praised by manager Arsene Wenger for his ability to find “something special”, Sanchez has taken to English football better than anyone could have expected – except Wenger, perhaps – and he believes that reason for it is down to Arsenal suiting his quick frenetic style of play.
Speaking in an interview with The Times, Sanchez said: “It cost me a lot to adapt to playing the Barcelona way.
“The first year was OK and then the second year I was better, but I needed time. Arsenal play beautiful football, but Barcelona play in a way that no other team in the world does. English football is more direct, more end to end, but I like that. It suits the way I want to play.”
Sanchez has been lauded to the point that many believe Arsenal have developed into a one-man team, with the forward securing nine points single-handedly for the Gunners this term through his nine Premier League goals this season.
However, 25-year-old insists that he would not be on the scoresheet so regularly if it was not for the talent around him as he praised his Arsenal team-mates, and that certainly looked the case in their last two games when Sanchez was joined in attack by Danny Welbeck and Olivier Giroud – a formidable trio that looks to be the Gunners’ best option at the moment once all three are fully fit.
“My team-mates have helped me adapt,” Sanchez added. “If my team-mates were not so good, then I would not have done so well. It is that easy. The quality here is impressive. You only need to take a glance around [a training session] to see that. It is the same level, more or less, as there was at Barcelona. We do different things in training, but player for player, it is just about the same.”
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