Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla ruled out of crunch game

Arsene Wenger admitted after the game he was fearing the worst and it seems those concerns were well placed as the Mirror claim Sanchez has been ruled out for at least three weeks.

Wenger also revealed that midfielder Santi Cazorla had finished the game nursing a leg problem and said that he, Sanchez and Koscielny would all undergo tests on Monday. “We have to assess that”.

Sanchez barely had any rest in the off-season, having to play in the Copa America, in which he went the full distance and won the tournament with home team Chile.

Asked if he may have erred in starting with Sanchez, Wenger told Sky Sports: “You can say that, but at the moment on the striker front we have not much choice because (Theo) Walcott is out, (Danny) Welbeck is out. We don’t want to have to play catch up but we will see at the end of the season and we will want to bounce back and get back to winning ways on Saturday”.

Wenger has stated on numerous occasions that his star performer is jaded and in need of a rest, but he has continued to play him in every Arsenal game and now faces a spell on the sidelines.

“We checked him [during the week] and when you have no force and no middle stretch in your hamstring then there is no problem and he had that”.

Former club Bournemouth had bids rejected as they looked to lure him back to the south coast and, although he ultimately remained a Norwich player, he was rarely given the opportunity to feature.

“When he was down he had a kick on the knee”, Wenger explained.

Neil said after the game that there are no ill feelings between the pair and Grabban is now keen to retain his place for next weekend’s trip to Watford. He barely managed to get any rest after that, when he was thrown into the mix of the domestic season, playing nearly every game in the Premier League and in the Champions League. It’s a good day for us, and I’m happy to score on my first game back.

“Koscielny was a kick on the hip and he can’t move even now”.

“Getting the point was the most important thing for us”.

The Canaries levelled two minutes before half-time when Grabban, who had played just 100 minutes of Premier League football before today’s match, turned Koscielny’s replacement Gabriel by the penalty spot to finish off man-of-the-match Robbie Brady’s pass.