WENGER BACKS UNSETTLED SANCHEZ

Manager insists star still fully committed to Arsenal

LONDON doesn’t need to alert the club. He can do it on his own.

“We live with facts, not with psychological theories. When you come on to the pitch you play football and give 100 per cent. That’s what he does.”

Remarkably, Wenger appears to believe Sanchez could still be persuaded to remain in north London.

“I want him to stay for longer,” he added. “I have no problem if he signs with us now or in June.”

Alex Iwobi featured instead of Sanchez despite facing a fine for partying prior to Sunday’s shock FA Cup third round defeat at Nottingham Forest.

Quizzed on whether selecting Iwobi sent a mixed message on team discipline, Wenger said: “There’s one thing to punish someone individually and a second thing to punish everybody.

“If I think he can help the team to win, that’s nothing to do with the fact he can be punished separately, individually.”

Wenger, who said Jack Wilshere will miss Sunday’s game at Bournemouth after suffering an ankle injury, watched from the press box while serving the second game of his three-match touchline ban.

He admitted the experience of being surrounding by reporters during the match had been strange.

“It was frustrating but you (the media) have the best seats,” he said. “The position was quite interesting, because I was close to the bench and not too high up. That’s where I like to be.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte was left frustrated by his side’s failure to turn a dominant display into a victory.

It was Chelsea’s second successive goalless draw following Saturday’s FA Cup stalemate at Norwich and Conte warned his players to sharpen up in front of goal.

“We shot 20 times. We created chances to score, but we didn’t take them. I think in the last period we must be more clinical,” he said. AFP