Arsene Wenger has warned Alexis Sanchez that he has owes it to his team-mates to help smash Manchester City – the club he still wants to join next summer.
The Arsenal boss said: “When you are a football player, you have a social contract with the rest of the team and I never question that.
“Once you don’t respect that, it’s difficult to say that you play football.”
The two teams meet at the Etihad next Sunday. Sanchez was close to a reunion with Pep Guardiola on Deadline Day in August – only for the deal to fall through because Wenger could not land Thomas Lemar from Monaco.
Wenger has now warned Sanchez that he will need to put his future ambitions aside and focus on hurting City’s title charge.
Despite Arsenal’s failure to reach the Champions League last season Sanchez was directly involved in 45 goals in 51 appearances – 30 goals and 15 assists.
This season he has been a slow starter with his first for the club coming in the 5-2 win over Everton two weekends ago.
Concerns have been expressed that Sanchez is more focused at forcing a move in January or leaving on a free when his contract expires next summer.
But Wenger added: “I think he’s coming back stronger physically. He runs after a goal at the moment so he’s a bit frustrated when he doesn’t score, like all goalscorers.
“I’m not worried about it. He works hard and it will come back quickly. You can never try too hard.
“At the moment he’s marked well, they double up on him, but he still creates many dangerous situations and the goal, he just has not to worry too much.
“I know you always say that to strikers and they still worry but over a longer period he has always scored and that will come back.”
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