Ian Wright thinks Arsène Wenger should avoid bringing Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez back into the Arsenal team, after the Gunners performed so well against Chelsea without the pair.

Arsenal play against Doncaster Rovers tonight in the Carabao Cup and Wright thinks it would be a mistake to bring the pair back, telling Sky Sports via the Express: “I would like Arsene Wenger to be more pragmatic in his approach, like he was in that particular game, and it’s up to the players to then execute it.

“I think if they can do that then it shows that they can do it successfully without them two. Danny Welbeck got injured so one of them will probably come back, probably Sanchez but I would still leave them both out. What it does is build confidence in the rest of the guys who played for each other [against Chelsea].”

There should be no danger that Mesut Özil will be back in the team this evening, considering that Wenger ruled him out in his pre-match press conference due to a knee inflammation.

However, after he didn’t start the weekend’s game against Chelsea, despite being fit, Alexis is more likely to come into contention for the League Cup game. Especially since Wenger said the team would be similar to the one that played against FC Köln, in which the Chilean international started.

But whether Wenger would choose to leave either player out for tactical reasons is another matter. In my opinion, the Arsenal boss is still seemingly holding out hope that they’ll sign new contracts this season, and the best way to convince them to do so is probably not by forcing them to sit on the bench when fit.