Arsene Wenger met with the press on Friday morning ahead of Arsenal’s game at the Emirates against Sunderland on Saturday in the Premier League.

First up, as tends to be in these things, he was asked about the fitness of his key players – namely Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla and the news was not good in relation to the tiny Spaniard.

Asked how long the two would be out, Arsene replied “I don’t know, honestly.

“Sanchez is a hamstring but I don’t know how long it will take. Usually he is a quick one to recover.

“Cazorla, we don’t know until he sees a specialist.

“It’s possible (he could be out til March).”

He was then asked if he was responsible for Alexis’ problems given that he had an issue before the game and the boss pointed to the medical staff giving him the all clear as well as the shove which saw him land in the camera pit as something that could have made the problem worse.

He then finished that section by saying if the press wanted to blame him he had no problem with that at all.