Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez has been ruled out until mid-January after suffering a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Sanchez has been sidelined since late November and, having been pencilled in for his comeback in Monday night’s 2-1 Premier League victory over Manchester City, he will now be absent for the entire Christmas schedule.
The trip to Liverpool on January 13 is the likely date for his return, forcing him to miss fixtures against Southampton, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Sunderland.
“Sanchez will be back around January 10. We can’t count on him around the Christmas period. He’s had a very slight setback,” manager Arsene Wenger said.
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“It was planned for him to be on the bench for City. He’s so keen, but he got a little pain in training two days ago and we haven’t taken a gamble.”
The loss of Sanchez has been offset by the ongoing brilliance of Mesut Ozil, who defied a chest infection to mastermind victory over title rivals City.
Ozil was the Gunners’ ringmaster, setting up first-half goals for Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud and presenting Aaron Ramsey with a superb chance after the interval.
“Ozil had a chest infection this weekend and he was in bed, basically. He had only one training session,” Wenger said.
“For a guy who could not prepare well, he has done extremely well physically. I’m a bit cautious because we lost three or four players recently.”
