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Arsenal boss on whether Alexis Sanchez needs stitches

By on April 27, 2017

Arsene Wenger has been speaking about the incidents involving Alexis Sanchez during our win over Leicester last night which led to the Arsenal man suffering a cut lip.

Sanchez has rightly come under fire for his embarrassing reaction to being hit in the shoulder by the ball last night. In case you missed it, Christian Fuchs deliberately threw the ball at Alexis as he stood close to the touchline while trying to disturb the Leicester defender taking a late throw-in.

The ball hit Sanchez on the shoulder but the Chilean international collapsed to the floor holding his face. It was a horrible piece of play acting, however, the booking that proceeded was simply ridiculous.

The referee booked Alexis for standing too close as players are meant to be at least 2 meters away from the opposition when they’re taking a throw in but neither the ref nor his assistant warned Sanchez or told him to move back.

Not only that, by the laws of the game Fuchs should have be shown a red card for deliberately throwing the ball at an opponent with excessive force. However, that doesn’t excuse how Sanchez reacted. Watch it here:

The Arsenal attacker was then involved in another incident with Robert Huth that saw the defender go through the back of him before slamming him to the floor, and it was during this ‘tackle’ that Sanchez is believed to have suffered a minor cut to his lip.

Alexis took to Twitter after the game to show off his battle wound [see picture above] and Arsene Wenger has now had his say on the incidents, in which he confirmed that the 28-year-old won’t require stitches.

Here is what the boss told Arsenal.com:

on the Fuchs/Alexis incident…
I did not see where he was hit, but I saw on the first two attempts when Fuchs tries to throw the ball in, Alexis stood next to him. I don’t think he knew he had to be further away. As well, I must say that the referee didn’t tell him. After the first attempt, the referee didn’t tell him he needs to move away so he thought he was in the right position. After that he got a yellow card because he didn’t respect the rule. I accept that because he was not the right distance. The referee or the linesman should have told him. On top of that Fuchs was lucky not to get a yellow card because he threw the ball at him on purpose.

on whether Alexis was booked for not retreating or simulation…
I don’t know. I assume that it was because he was not [retreating]. The referee saw where the ball hit Alexis better than I did.

on whether he saw where the ball hit Alexis…
No. I was looking in the box because I thought the danger wasn’t Alexis, it is what happens in the box. I saw afterwards that it had hit him somewhere, so I will check on the video.

on whether Leicester went in heavily on Alexis towards the end…
Robert Huth went in really hard on him. I helped him to get up and he was bleeding on his lips. He touched him in the face but I don’t know whether it was accidental or not.

on whether Alexis needs stitches…
No.

Phew. I was really worried Alexis might need stitches or even an operation! Let’s hope he recovers from this nasty cut in time for Sunday’s trip to Tottenham. [sarcasm, for those who weren’t aware]