We can cope without Sanchez, says Wenger

Arsenal may have to make do without their top scorer Alexis Sanchez when they visit north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.

The Chile forward missed his side's 5-0 win over Aston Villa last weekend and on Thursday Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, suggested that he had failed to recover sufficiently from a hamstring problem. But Wenger, whose side are looking to record back-to-back victories at White Hart Lane for the first time since September 1988, hinted in his press conference on Friday that Sanchez may yet feature, with a test that day set to determine his availability.

"[Telling him he's not playing] is not easy!" Wenger said. "He wants to play of course. He's very keen and thinks he can even defy the medical people because he’s so keen.

"I don’t know yet [if he could feature], I need medical advice on that and need as well to see what he can do in training."

Wenger is boosted by the return of Danny Welbeck to the first team, but remains without Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere (both ankle), Mathieu Debuchy (shoulder) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (groin). Welbeck's return means Arsenal have enough attacking options to compensate for Sanchez, who has 12 league goals, says Wenger.

"We have enough offensive power," he said. "We don't need to worry about being short on that front."


The Frenchman also confirmed that striker Chuba Akpom and midfielder Francis Coquelin have both signed new deals with the Gunners.

Coquelin has impressed since getting a run in the team in a holding midfield role while Akpom, 19, has made two BPL appearances this season.

One man who relishes the north London derby is Tottenham Hotspur forward Emmanuel Adebayor, who has scored 10 Barclays Premier League goals in the fixture, for Arsenal and Spurs, more than any player. Spurs head coach Mauricio Pochettino says the Togo forward is a "very important player", and can help his side's top-four push after reports that Adebayor was close to a move away on transfer deadline day.

"If you review the last two or three months, maybe people understand that he needs time to get his confidence back and to return to his best level," Pochettino said of a player whom he has not selected in his starting XI for a BPL match since November. "We need to analyse the past. It was difficult for him, and it's always hard for a player to come back.

"We are happy that he has stayed as he is a very important player. We need to provide him with the tools to improve, as we do with all the players. We push them, make sure they train in a good way and, after, when they have the chance to play, they give their best."

Depending on Southampton's result away to Queens Park Rangers earlier in the day, Arsenal, who are on a five-match winning run in all competitions, could climb to third place in the Barclays Premier League, with Manchester United not playing until Sunday. Spurs, two points adrift of the visitors, could go fourth.

Tottenham Hotspur (from): Friedel, Lloris, Vorm, Chiriches, Davies, Dier, Fazio, Kaboul, Rose, Vertonghen, Walker, Yedlin, Bentaleb, Capoue, Ceballos Chadli, Dembele, Eriksen, Lamela, Mason, Paulinho, Stambouli, Townsend, Adebayor, Kane, Soldado.

Arsenal (from): Martinez, Ospina, Szczesny, Bellerin, Chambers, Gabriel, Gibbs, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Cazorla, Coquelin, Flamini, Ozil, Ramsey, Rosicky, Akpom, Giroud, Walcott, Welbeck.

source: http://www.premierleague.com/