Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has warned Chilean star Alexis Sanchez could burnout as the club gear up for the hectic Christmas period, which will see the north London side travel to Stoke City first, this Saturday.
The in-form striker, signed from Barcelona for a believed £35m fee last summer, has been the Gunners star player of this season, leading the club's goalscoring charts, netting nine times in England so far, but "is in the red zone” physically, according to Le Prof.
"He is in the red zone," the French manager confessed. "You can see that when he plays, but he can dig deep. I think he played his 27th game since the start of the season on Wednesday, if you consider the international games and the travelling on top of that.
"Unfortunately, you never know how far you can push. We are not scientific enough to predict that completely, but he has great recovery potential. He recovers very quickly and he is always very sharp and ready to play.
"He has a huge desire, no complex and a fighting attitude. Even when he misses something, it doesn't affect him. I believe as well he is very mobile, very determined and he has the sense to be in the right place in the box."
The FA Cup holders, who are suffering of an injury crisis, currently without Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshere, and Theo Walcott, have heavily relied on Sanchez to bail them out in numerous occasions this season, with many blaming Arsenal of being over-dependent on the former Udinese attacker.
This, however, is a perception Wenger was quick to banish, arguing the club's recent winning streak, three in three games, without conceding a single goal, has been down to the effort of the team as a whole.
"On the goal-scoring front you can say he is the dominant figure, but it doesn't reflect the truth to say Sanchez is the only player," Wenger added. "Three games is a good basis, but not enough to say momentum there. We have to go to create five, six or seven games to feel completely comfortable on that front but it is a good period of the season to do it."
