Brooding Alexis easy to contain

ARSENE WENGER said he was sure Alexis Sanchez would have no problem facing Manchester City.

But the Arsenal manager was speaking more in hope than expectation, as Sanchez fell flat against the club he was desperate to join last summer.

Sanchez’s proposed £60million move fell through late on deadline day, and yesterday he showed just how much he is still brooding over that missed opportunity.

Preferred to lead the line ahead of Arsenal’s record £52m signing Alexandre Lacazette, Wenger put his faith in Sanchez to go out and prove his pre-match claim.

But at times here it seemed as if he was trying too hard to impress, to show City and their fans just what they had missed out on.

Yet that desire to prove himself, on what amounted to a huge test of his mental resolve, served only to rob Sanchez of his natural ebullience and verve.

But Wenger, typically, was full of praise for the 28-year-old.

“In a difficult moment of the game he did very well,” said

Wenger. “He was on his own up front in the first-half but didn’t have enough support.

“Overall, I think he has done everything. It was a huge mental test, but I had no doubt about him before the game. He’s focused and wants to win. He had a good performance.”

Pep Guardiola talked of Sanchez giving his side a “headache” at times, but the reality is that City had little trouble containing him.

The Chile star may yet get his wish and join Guardiola’s side next summer, when he will be a free agent. But with City so rampant right now, it is hard to see where he would fit in.