Wenger ‘not suspicious’ of playing Sanchez against City

Matt Stead

Arsene Wenger insists he has no concerns about playing Alexis Sanchez against Manchester City next weekend.

The Arsenal forward came close to leaving the Emirates Stadium for City on transfer-deadline day despite Wenger insisting throughout the summer that he would not be sold.

But the Gunners decided to pull the plug after they failed in an attempt to land Monaco forward Thomas Lemar as his replacement.

Sanchez, 28, is out of contract at the end of the season and is not expected to sign a new deal at Arsenal.

Arsenal travel to face early pace-setters City on Sunday but Wenger has no issue in playing Sanchez against the side he could have been turning out for.

“I have no concerns because I’m not suspicious about performances or the desire to win of a football player,” he said.

“When you are a football player you have a social contract with the rest of the team and I never question that. Once you don’t respect that, it is difficult to say that you play football.”