Alexis Sanchez to be

Arsenal lost Alexis Sanchez and Laurent Koscielny to injury in a 1-1 draw at Norwich City on Sunday that prevented it drawing level with Premier League leader Manchester City.

It had started so well for Wenger and his players, the Koscielny injury aside, taking a deserved lead through the in-form Mesut Ozil only to be pegged back by a Lewis Grabban equaliser before the sides played out a topsy-turvy goalless second half.

Asked after the match whether he should have rested Sanchez, Wenger said that the forward had recovered from his hamstring niggle, and with Arsenal already hard hit by injuries, he had few alternatives.

Another factor is the admission Wenger made three days before the Norwich game that he had known Sanchez was carrying a hamstring problem yet still decided not to rest him.

It’s well-known Arsenal are suffering significant injury problems now with stars such as Aaron Ramsey and Francis Coquelin out for extended periods while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is still nowhere near match fit.

But their wretched luck with injuries continued as Laurent Koscielny was forced off with less than 10 minutes gone after clashing with Lewis Grabban. “We checked him [before the Norwich game] and when you have no force and no middle stretch in your hamstring then there is no problem and he had that”, Wenger said, as quoted by Arsenal’s official website. “We lost Sanchez and Koscielny, and Cazorla finished on one leg”.

Arsenal are looking to take advantage of Manchester United and Leicester City drawing Saturday, by beating Norwich City on the road.

“I am proud of the lads”, said Klopp.

“Again, I personally wouldn’t have liked that when I was a player, but you take it on the chin and see the bigger picture because you want to be out there and play the whole season”.

Ozil provided a delightful dinked finish to underline his current mastery – a second goal to go with 11 assists in his last dozen Premier League appearances. With a midweek win against Dinamo Zagred Arsenal gave themselves a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages and will now look to move back to second in the league table here with a win against a struggling Norwich. Every player goes out there with something to prove. He talked repeatedly about the need to rest him but gambled on finding the right window.

“Maybe the turning point of the game was maybe we dropped a little bit after scoring straight away and allowed them back into the game”.

Norwich grew in confidence, enjoying a more or less 50-50 share of possession and equalling Arsenal’s shot tally of seven after Ozil’s opener.