Alexis Sanchez really is something else, isn’t he? For the last week all we’ve heard is how broken he is, how his heavy strapping is keeping his hamstring from twanging like an old banjo, yet last night he managed 84 minutes and two goals. What a machine.

It just highlights to everyone how much of a talisman he is too. Without him in the side, Chile would have been missing a massive player and probably wouldn’t have had the firepower to score the goals that they did, but instead they will all be feeling happier than when they woke up yesterday morning.

The attention will now turn to his availability for Saturday and what Arsène will do. With such a heavy strapping as Alexis had, I do wonder if Arsenal have to take the hit and rest him, or even have him on the bench on Saturday lunchtime. If he’s come back from Chile with his legs in a bit of a state, he’ll no doubt be on the verge of total breakdown, so if it means we lose him for a week so his body can recover in time then we just have to do it. 

Personally, if I was Arsène I’d be heeding the warning signs and telling Alexis he’ll be on the bench on Saturday and could potentially play a part for the PSG game in a week’s time. We need him available for the December period and when those games keep coming, he will have to be squad managed anyway.

All that aside though, the fact he played does make you marvel at the human bodies ability for reconstruction, when it comes to situations like this. How a guy could be feared out for between six to eight weeks and then even play a game a week later, is unbelievable, although as I said above I guess we won’t know the full extent until he’s been tested by the Arsenal medical team.

Elsewhere there were some friendlies and Walcott got on quite early in the game due to a Lallana injury. I watched about 20 minutes of it when Theo was on an he made a few decent tackles, but I didn’t see anything else on the game so it’d be hard for me to make a decent assessment.

Laurent Koscielny played 45 minutes, Olivier Giroud got about half an hour, Mustafi annoyingly played an hour and according to Sky Sports, we’ve racked up loads more air miles than United have done this weekend. Personally I think that’s a load of old tosh, because each of these players will have been treated to first class with all of the trimmings, so I doubt any of them will be feeling all achey because they’ve been wedged in to a Ryanair flight. Sure, the sleep on a lie-flat bed in a plane isn’t a thing like your own bed at home, but I expect the players will probably be afforded a days rest on Thursday, before the team travels up north on Friday. So fatigue based on international travel shouldn’t really be a consideration I don’t think. 

What also shouldn’t be a consideration, is the choice of referee for the game on Saturday, but in their efforts to overhype everything they have made a specific news page for the fact it will be Andre Marriner. I’m sorry, but when did something like this become news?? 

Oh yes, when that reprehensible character Jose Mourinho decided to try and play mind games before the Liverpool match. Now every single United game has a focus on who the ref is. I really do dislike that Portuguese man. More than I’ve disliked almost all football managers to have walked this earth. He is a sullen, boring, grumpy and game playing man who the world probably wouldn’t be too upset about steering United into an oblivion in footballing terms. I am sure he’ll strangle the life out of the game on Saturday and probably get exactly what he wants, but the fact that he’s the root cause of most over analysis on referees this season, tells you all you need to know about that scummer.

That’s pretty much it on what’s going on at the moment. I’ve no doubt we’ll get a ‘heads up’ tomorrow at some stage, but right now we’re in Arsenal news ‘no mans land’, so I’ll say my goodbyes for another day.

Cheerio.