Dressing room row after training the reason for Alexis' exclusion
The former Barcelona and current Arsenal star was left on the bench for Arsenal's loss to Liverpool but Arsene Wenger said he had no regrets over his benching as the truth emerges.
Alexis Sanchez was left on the bench for Liverpool's victory over Arsenal on Saturday and The Guardian cite a war of words with teammates after storming into the dressing room during training as the reason for Arsene Wenger's decision. The loss to Liverpool was a particularly harsh blow to their Champions League ambitions with Arsene Wenger's future at the club hanging in the balance.
Wenger at peace with Sanchez dropping
Wenger said after the game that he had no regrets over his decision but the absence of the star clearly had an affect on how his side played. They trailed 2-0 heading in at the break and Wenger buckled at half-time, introducing the Chilean. The Frenchman said he wanted to play the long ball with Giroud and Welbeck preferred but with Sanchez proving to be Arsenal's brightest light this season, there was clearly more to the decision to drop him than tactics.
The Guardian do not go into specific but say that the former Barça attacker stormed into the dressing room after an incident with another player and the war of words continued when they arrived into the dressing room shortly afterwards.
There is a growing sense that Sanchez' time at Arsenal is up and he will try to force a move out of London in the summer. PSG have been tipped as a possible landing spot with Atletico Madrid also mentioned.
Arsenal's Hector Bellerin was critical of the squad too after the defeat, saying that they were not ready and needed to have a better attitude. Arsenal's season is poised to end in failure again after the Liverpool loss and the fact that they trail Bayern Munich 5-1 and look to be heading out in the last 16 of the Champions League for a seventh consecutive season.