Arsene Wenger believes that Alexis Sanchez is at the same level as some of the world’s best forwards.

“[Alexis and Suarez] are at the same level,” Wenger said. “Suarez is a central striker and Sanchez is more a wide player who likes to go up and down and is involved in dribbling. But they have similarities.”

The boss reckons this is down to the South American countries having a higher volume of top quality strikers.

“In South America they are richer in strikers than Europe,” Wenger continued. “You look at Aguero, Messi, Suarez, Sanchez, I could name many of them. They produce more than us and we have to look at ourselves and see how we can correct that.”

The idea that South America produces more strikers is an interesting one, and admittedly, not something I’ve thought about before. Could this be down to the way many of them begin playing football or the footballers they choose to emulate? Are they genuinely better in ability naturally, or have they just worked harder to get where they are?

Comparing Alexis to Suarez does the former a disservice, not because I believe he’s better than the ex-Liverpool man, but because Alexis has such a unique style about him that comparing him to another forward feels unnecessary.

He’s an Arsenal player without necessarily being a typical Arsenal player; he’s pure class while still being tenacious enough to go after what he wants and give everything on the pitch.