Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger unsure how long Alexis Sanchez will be out

Alexis Sanchez is likely to return in time for the busy Christmas fixture schedule for Arsenal, but Santi Cazorla is out until the new year after suffering a knee injury at Norwich last Sunday.

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

“The injury situation is that the players who have been injured last week won’t play tomorrow”, said Wenger.

After reflecting on another week dominated by Arsenal’s injury problems, Wenger was then quizzed on the latest developments around the Federation Internationale de Football Association corruption scandal.

“Ideally you want them all to be with you, but we are prepared to deal with it”, Wenger said.

Wenger continued: “We will make a decision on Saturday on Koscielny and Walcott – they could both make the squad”. He said: “It’s been done in the past here, I know, but that is the most hard way to do it. Pick your points up against the teams in and around you in that bottom eight – that relieves the pressure when you play the Arsenals”.

Wenger told Friday’s news conference that he would happily take the blame for Arsenal’s injury worries but denied suggestions he often pushes players too hard to play when unfit.

Long gone are the days of Irish players playing for the top teams in the Premier League but the Boys in Green still have some top performers across the water. “That injury can come from that as well”.

Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Francis Coquelin, Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky all remain absent but Wenger is hopeful the players he can call upon will fill the void.

The Spaniard was able to carry on but despite the injury getting progressively worse as the game went on, he was forced to complete the full ninety minutes as we’d already made all three of our substitutions.

When quizzed further on the club’s medical staff, he added: “I would like to invite you one day, we have plenty of people”.

“What happened on the pitch was not a great experience but we need to try and bounce back so we are ready for the next game against Sunderland on Saturday”.