Arsene Wenger says Alexis Sanchez will be out of action for most of August, missing Friday’s Premier League opener with Leicester and Stoke City eight days later.

Alexis will not be featuring in Arsenal’s first game of the season due to an abdominal injury. He could be one the treatment table for two weeks. The injury was revealed in Arsene Wenger’s pre-match press conference this morning.

The Chilean is expect to be out for around a fortnight and will likely miss the game against Stoke next week as well. Wenger explained the injury in more detail on Arsenal.com, saying: “He had a little abdominal strain that he caught on Sunday morning in training, before he came to Wembley.

“He had a scan two days ago and he’s out for a while – we don’t know if it is two weeks or one more week, but he will not be available. We think he will not play at Stoke.

“For us Alexis Sanchez is a loss, of course. But we have all the other players prepared in pre-season and they are all ready. It can happen in pre-season and anyway, I don’t think I would have included him on Friday night.

I don’t think I would have started him. He is focused. Of course when you have treatment on a medical bench, it’s not easy.”

By the sounds of things, Alexis could well have a genuine injury and not one of those conveniently timed phantom injuries to disguise something else going on.

The timing of the injury, and the length of time Alexis will be out for, has fueled speculation that Alexis could be edging closer to a move away from the club.

Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain continue to be linked. However, Wenger would be spinning a rather elaborate lie if that was the case.

Alexis only returned to training last Tuesday and was always expected to miss the Leicester game. The injury, real or not, will set his preparations back.