Arsenal: Arsene Wenger ready to give Alexis Sanchez midseason breather after injury crisis eases

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that he is keen on giving Alexis Sanchez a mid-season breather as he fears that his joint top scorer for Arsenal in the Premier League is a bit jaded due to his hectic schedule for club and country. He has played 69 games for the Gunners in the last 15 months, while making 22 appearances for Chile.

The French manager, however, is under pressure to play him every week due to the number of injuries hampering the Arsenal squad. They are without a number of offensive players, who could replace the Chilean in the squad. Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Danny Welbeck are all injured, forcing the manager's hand despite the precarious situation regarding his star forward's fitness.

"I am worried because before he went away with Chile he was a bit jaded. But if I ask him 'are you tired?' you can guess the answer," Wenger said, as quoted by the Mirror.

"At some point I will give him a break. At the moment I am a bit short because there's no Chamberlain, no Ramsey, no Walcott, no Wilshere, and no Welbeck. There are not many offensive positions where I can rotate," the Frenchman explained.

Wenger has also refused to speak about Arsenal's position on the Premier League table – they are currently level on points with pacesetters Manchester City – and he believes that every opponent in the English top flight have improved in recent seasons and it's the team's performance that dictates title chances rather than the opposition.

"The difference between the teams has narrowed and today it's more how much can you be close to your best that will decide the result, rather than the team you play against. In the Premier League now every game is physical, fast, with two totally committed teams - you cannot afford to make a single mistake," the Gunners boss added.