Arsenal news: Arsene Wenger sweating over Alexis Sanchez's fitness ahead of international break

Arsenal are sweating over the fitness of Alexis Sanchez after he suffered a minor groin injury during the Gunners' 3-0 victory over Manchester United. He has now jetted off to join Chile's upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Brazil and Peru on 8 and 13 October respectively.

Arsene Wenger is hoping that his star forward does not aggravate the injury during the international break, especially after just getting back into full fitness following a slow start to the season, due to his commitments with the national team at the Copa America in the summer.

According to the Mirror, the north London club's medical staff are quite confident that there is no serious concern with the injury, but are still in regular contact with their Chilean counterparts to ensure no unnecessary risks are taken with Sanchez. The former Barcelona attacker has scored six goals in his last three games for the Gunners and his absence will be a big blow for the team, that looks to slowly but surely hitting their stride.

Wenger confirmed the injury to the player following the demolition of the Red Devils at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday (4 October), where he scored two of the three goals. However, the French manager admitted that he was powerless from stopping the Chilean, who will not want to miss his country's crucial clash against rivals Brazil on Thursday.

"He has a little groin problem. Unfortunately he goes to Chile. You cannot stop him from going to Chile and he loves so much to play for his country and he will play against Brazil [on Friday] and Peru [next] Tuesday so the game at home against Brazil he will not want to miss. Hopefully he will come back in good shape," Wenger said.

Arsenal have crucial fixtures coming up in the Premier League, including a double header against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. The Gunners will need a full strength squad to tackle the Bavarian giants, especially since they lost their first two games in the group stages, leaving their hopes of qualifying to the knockout rounds hanging by a thread.