WENGER WONDER AT TITLE THRILLER
...and he stands up for Sanchez over strop
ARSENE WENgER dipped into his memory and found nothing. There has never, in his recollection, been a Premier League title race quite so close or diverse.
That as many as five teams are still in contention behind Chelsea in midJanuary has stunned Arsenal’s manager, whose side added to their own claim with this handsome win.
‘It’s the first time in my 20 years that, in this period of the season, you have six teams all fighting,’ he said. ‘But we’re still in January. In February you go into Europe, into the cups. You go into big games, so who can maintain it? Nobody can tell.’
Chelsea are seven points clear but must put out the astonishing fire set in their own home by the Diego Costa situation.
Wenger declined to comment, saying: ‘I have enough problems, I don’t need a Costa problem on top of that.’
As he acknowledged, he has his own issues, with contract extensions for Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez unsigned. Each continues to excel, particularly Sanchez, who was brilliant here but threw a tantrum at his late substitution.
‘Individually, you want everybody to behave very well,’ Wenger said. ‘When they don’t, well, we don’t live in a perfect world. He is a guy who wants to fight everywhere. Sometimes where he shouldn’t. It’s part of it.
‘If you are a football player, you want to play every minute.’
SUPER STAT: Alexis Sanchez has been involved in most PL goals of any player this season (14 goals, seven assists).
SWANSEA CITY (4-2-3-1): Fabianski 6; Naughton 5, Fernandez 5, Mawson 6, Kingsley 6; Cork 6 (McBurnie 70min, 6), Ki 5; Dyer 5.5 (Fer 55, 6), Sigurdsson 5.5, Routledge 5; Llorente 5.5 (Borja 70, 5.5).
Subs not used: Van der Hoorn, Nordfeldt, Rangel, Fulton. Booked: Ki, Fer. ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Cech 6.5; Gabriel 6.5, Mustafi 7, Koscielny 6, Monreal 6.5; Xhaka 6.5, Ramsey 7; Iwobi 7, Ozil 7 (Perez 79), Sanchez 8 (Welbeck 79); Giroud 7 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 59, 6). Subs not used: Ospina, Holding, Reine-Adelaide, Maitland-Niles. Scorers: Giroud 37, Cork 54 og, Naughton 67 og, Sanchez 73. Man of the match: Alexis Sanchez. Referee: Mike Jones 7.5.