INJURED SANCHEZ OUT FOR TWO WEEKS

ALEXIS SANCHEZ has an abdominal injury and will miss the start of Arsenal’s Premier League season. The Chile forward returned for pre-season training later than his team-mates after the Confederations Cup but was thought to have an outside chance of making the bench for tomorrow’s home clash with Leicester City. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said: ‘He has a little abdominal strain that he suffered on Sunday morning in training. He had a scan and he’s out for a while — two weeks or one more week? But he won’t be available at Stoke (on August 19). I don’t think I would have started him.’ Sanchez is still the subject of long-running transfer speculation. Both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are keen to sign him, although Wenger insists he will not sanction the forward’s exit. Arsenal left back Kieran Gibbs, 27, is unlikely to join Watford after all. The Hertfordshire club are reluctant to meet the Gunners’ £16million valuation for a player with less than a year left on his current deal.