Gritty, Alexis Sanchez on the ball

The day after, Arsene Wenger is still head over heels about Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez, praising him as a “fighter and a quality talent player” after inspiring the Gunners to a 3-0 Premier League win over basement club Burnley.

Sanchez scored twice, either side of Calum Chambers finding the back of the net, as the hosts’ finally broke Burnley’s stubborn resistance with three goals inside the final 20 minutes at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

Rounding off a good day for the Gunners was the sight of England winger Theo Walcott returning to top-flight football for the first time since suffering a cruciate ligament injury in January.

However, this result rested on Sanchez, who has now scored 10 goals in 16 appearances for Arsenal since joining the north London club in a £30 million ($50.4 million, 37.6 million euros) pre-season move from Barcelona.

Sanchez’s determination and force defined the game, and decided it.

The nature of his 70th-minute goal that broke the deadlock was that of an old-fashioned British number-nine, and not what would usually be associated with a player as sleek as the Chilean.

Arsenal’s Chilean striker Alexis Sanchez (C) celebrates with Walcott and Calum Chambers

But it was precisely the type of finish Wenger was talking about on Friday when the veteran French manager said Europe was no longer producing “street footballers” of Sanchez’s type.

Sanchez brilliantly got between and above the more physically imposing Kieran Trippier and Michael Duff, to impressively head home Arsenal’s opening goal.

It was a fine finish, and one that also finished 70 minutes of pure frustration. Burnley had been so bullishly defiant, which made Sanchez’s brute force all the more crucial.

“I think we had about 30 crosses today and for a while couldn’t win every header but in the end he got there,” Wenger said.

“The header he scored is more the result of the determination and desire than doing something special technically. He has the attributes of a fighter, and a quality, talent player.

“Since he has played through the middle, he looks more goal dangerous because he is in full confidence, is physically strong, likes to take people on as well and makes good runs,” Wenger explained.

Within minutes of Sanchez’s first goal, Chambers made it 2-0 from a close-range finish, before the Chilean scored from a similar distance just before the end.

Arsène Wenger believes that South America now produces “80 per cent” of the elite strikers in Europe.

The Arsenal manager used Alexis Sanchez as a prime example, with the Chile international scoring eight goals and claiming three assists in his last 11 games.

Wenger says he possesses many of the traits that the very best South American footballers have, which they develop in street football.
If you look across Europe where are the strikers from? At least 80 per cent come from South America
Arsène Wenger

“If you look across Europe and the world of football, then South America is the only continent to develop strikers today,” the manager said. “If you look across Europe where are the strikers from? You will see that many of them – at least 80 per cent – come from South America.

“So we have to question ourselves: what can we add to our academies to develop strikers again? If you look at the 60s, 70s in England, even when I arrived in 1996, in every club you had strikers and I mean strikers – those who could head the ball. We have less now. In Germany they went to the World Cup with Klose, who is 35.

Arsenal Manager, Wenger

“Maybe in our history street football has gone. In street football when you are 10 years old, you play with 15-year-olds so you have to be shrewd, you have to show that you are good, you have to fight, win impossible balls.

“When it is all a bit more formulated then it is developing your individual skill, your fighting attitude less. We have lost a little bit of that in football.”

Wenger has been delighted with Alexis’ impact, and believes he has the quality to play anywhere across the frontline.
Matchday programme

“Honestly, I like him to play through the middle because he makes good runs,” he said. “He likes to come to the ball as well because he likes to dribble, so he can play also on the flanks.

“The quality of his receptions is very good – that means his runs are very good. He’s a good finisher so through the middle. When I bought him he can play centre forward or second striker or on the flanks.”