Arsene Wenger adamant Alexis Sanchez ‘could have been killed’ in Ryan Bennett

With Cazorla ruled out, Aaron Ramsey switches to a central position with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain coming into the side, himself only just returning from a hamstring strain, while Costa Rica forward Joel Campbell replaces Sanchez.

“I believe first of all it’s always a disappointment to lose the players at an important moment of the season”, he said. “The injury can come from that as well”. I don’t like to push players who are reluctant to play games.

“I said: ‘Santi, are you all right?’ he said he was okay”. As BBC Sport’s Phil McNulty noted, Wenger admitted Sanchez came into the match with a hamstring issue and made a decision to play him regardless.

“Sanchez is a hamstring (injury) but I don’t know how long it will take”.

‘I could see he was not completely but every time I asked if he was alright and he said he was OK.

Meanwhile Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce has warned his players they are in a marathon and not a sprint as they attempt to drag themselves clear of Premier League relegation trouble.

‘We know his external knee ligament has been touched.

“He had the complete power, the complete stretch. Call it repetition. Sadly, it gets a little bit boring for them”. We do what we can.

Arsenal’s injury problems have increased after Arsene Wenger revealed that Santi Cazorla’s problem is worse than the club initially feared, with the Spaniard set to endure a lay-off until the back-end of the current campaign. More importantly, Rooney will also miss their midweek clash with Wolfsburg to decide who claims top spot in their Champions League group with a loss putting United in danger of being eliminated from the competition.

Ultimately, the player moved to Russian side Rubin Kazan on a £8.6 million deal [Metro]-a move that took him out of the central narratives of the European game.

Arsenal are back in second, two points behind Leicester, and Wenger said: “It’s very tight”. “I have had those with many people”.