Following Arsenal’s 0-0 draw away to West Ham, Arsene Wenger tried to steer criticism away from Alexis Sanchez, who once again put in a poor performance.

Wenger insists it’s difficult to say that Alexis is currently suffering a dip in form and that the whole squad are to blame for the Gunners’ lacklustre showing at West Ham.

“In a situation like that you do not want to focus on one player, you focus more on the collective attitude of the team and keep them focused on the quality of our game,” Wenger told Standard Sport.

“We create chances. [The goals] will come. It’s difficult to say he’s had a dip. He tried tonight. It was difficult because they defended very well as well.”

Alexis gave the ball away 21 times against the Hammers on Wednesday night, which I guess is an improvement on the 32 at St. Mary’s and 34 at home to Manchester United…

Again, the forward wasn’t really involved and when he was he was wasteful with the ball.

The 28-year-old completed 79% of his passes, which admittedly isn’t so bad since his pass completion rate is usually pretty low anyway, he completed three out of the four dribbles he attempted and was dispossessed twice. However, what’s more concerning is the six shots he had, only two of which were on target.

Alexis hasn’t just been experiencing a dip in form, his entire season so far has been a trough. Although he’s netted three goals and assisted four in the Premier League, considering he scored 30 over all competitions last season, that’s pretty poor.

It’s not even about his goals or assists, it’s about his attitude and it looks like he can’t be bothered. Wenger claims Alexis “tried” against West Ham – does that mean he wasn’t trying before?