Wenger to give Sanchez a ‘breather’

Arsene Wenger was not surprised to see Alexis Sanchez quickly become Arsenal’s main man after leaving the shadow of Lionel Messi at Barcelona, but will give the in-form Chile forward a much-needed "breather" next week.

Sanchez netted his 14th goal of an impressive debut campaign to secure a 1-0 win over Southampton on Wednesday night which moved the Gunners back up into the top four of the Barclays Premier League.

But Wenger admits the Chile forward is very much “in the red zone”, having played some 27 matches already for club and country, so intends to allow him to miss next week’s Champions League tie away to Galatasaray, with Arsenal already qualified for the knockout stages.