Arsenal vs Bournemouth: Arsene Wenger hails Alexis Sanchez's 'gut' after excellent display against Cherries
The Arsenal manager praised his forward's resilience, claiming that even when he 'looks dead he's still alive'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, hailed Alexis Sanchez's 'gut' following his match-winning display in the victory over Bournemouth on Sunday.
The Chile international capitalised on a misplaced back pass to open the scoring in a 3-1 home win at the Emirates, before adding the third in stoppage time to secure the three points.
Sanchez was also booked in the second half for a late and dangerous tackle on Bournemouth’s Harry Arter, but Wenger had words of praise rather than reproach for his forward.
“Even when he looks dead he's still alive,” Wenger said. “He finds always the resources to do something special. He has that' 'gut' conditioning that when the ball comes to him again, he finds always that extra gear to be dangerous.”
“I don't think there was a desire to hurt Arter,” he added, referring to the tackle which earned Sanchez a caution.
“He hurt him yes, because it was late, but I don't think it was with excessive force or violence, he was just too late to take the ball. He did not want to injure Arter.”
Wenger also revealed that Olivier Giroud may face a spell on the sidelines, after appearing to tweak in hamstring in the final stages of the game.
Earlier, Mathieu Debuchy, making his first appearance of the season, had been forced to leave the field after just fifteen minutes.
On Giroud, Wenger said: “He felt a twitch at the back of his hamstring and I hope it's not too bad, but he told me after when he sprinted he didn't feel anything.
“Debuchy, he thinks its a severe one. I have to speak to medical people. You can only assess it after 48 hours.
Eddie Howe, the Bournemouth manager, did not see Sanchez’s challenge on Arter as malicious either, but claimed that his player was still not happy with the tackle after the final whistle.
“It didn't spring to my mind but I'm only going off my first look,” Howe said. “I know Harry wasn't happy when I saw him in the dressing room, but we'll wait and see to review that.
“I thought we were very good today. It's very difficult when you go 1-0 down in a game, especially in the manner that we conceded, an individual mistake.
“The group's playing very well. It was easy then to go under, but we didn't. We grew into the game, had some very good spells on the ball, created a number of chances. There was very little in the end between the two teams.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments