Saturday, 20th September, 2014
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that his decision to leave Alexis Sanchez out of his starting eleven against Aston Villa today was purely tactical.
The summer signing from Barcelona sat on the bench throughout proceedings at Villa Park, as Wenger's men ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, in a game in which Danny Welbeck scored his first goal for the club.
It had been speculated that Sanchez had been left on the bench due to an injury niggle. But not so says Wenger, revealing he would have been ready to play if picked.
Instead, Wenger chose to rest the Chile international.
"Sanchez was rested today and of course he was completely available", Wenger said via his club's site.
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The Gunners boss also praised Mesut Ozil, who did start and scored, defying his critics.
"I was very pleased he got the goal as quickly as possible. It’s not your [the media’s] fault, I didn’t say that it was your fault, I just said knowing you the media how well you find out what we miss. It was important for him to score."
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