From Arsène Wenger’s comments it looks like Alexis Sánchez is in line to make his first start of the new season against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

The worrying thing is, he probably shouldn’t. The Chilean’s touch was sloppy last Sunday against West Ham United and it is no wonder – he came into the game off the back of just four days training and no match practice.

After playing in the Copa América in the summer the forward was given time off until 3rd August but is determined to play again as soon as possible, which you can hardly imagine Shad Forsyth is too happy about. Fatigue, bad or inadequate preparation and not letting the body recover will only lead to injury problems further down the line.

Having played in the World Cup finals in 2014 and Copa América this year it is safe to say Alexis must be close to breaking point.

This stat from Sky Sports is impressive, no doubt about it, but it isn’t quite something to be celebrated. As far as we can tell Alexis is (probably) only human and one game against Crystal Palace – for which Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud, Mesut Özil, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santi Cazorla are all available – is not worth rushing the Chilean back for if it means increasing the risk of losing him later on in the season.

I appreciate that it may not be a popular shout, but weighing up all the evidence it would be fairly foolish to start with Alexis on Sunday afternoon.