Alexis Sanchez Shows He Is Arsenal’s Best Hope of Landing the Title

For Arsene Wenger, the brilliant form of Alexis Sanchez is not entirely good news. Although he’ll undoubtedly be grateful that the Chilean produced a brilliant hat-trick to help the Gunners to three points against West Ham, he’ll also know that every goal will add to Alexis’ wage demands. With contract talks approaching a crucial point, Arsenal must break the bank to keep their star man—playing like this, he looks capable of leading them to glory this season. 

This resounding victory helped eradicate memories of Arsenal’s 2-0 midweek defeat against Southampton in the EFL Cup. The likes of Alexis were rested for that match, and the benefit was obvious—Arsenal’s players looked fresh and hungry throughout the 90 minutes. It seems crazy to suggest a 5-1 defeat may have flattered the home side, but it’s true: Had Arsenal been more ruthless in front of goal, the scoreline could have been even more humiliating for Slaven Bilic. 

Alexis was West Ham’s tormentor in chief. From the first minute of the game, his energy and imagination was difficult to contain. Watching on, the Arsenal fans may have considered it almost fortuitous that injury has once again robbed Wenger of Olivier Giroud. The Gunners boss still occasionally feels tempted to deploy his countryman as the spearhead of the Arsenal attack. However, when Alexis plays through the middle, Wenger’s team look significantly superior.

His successful adaptation to the centre has been the major positive of Arsenal’s season. Speaking to arsenal.com after the game, Wenger hailed the emergence of another South American striking sensation:

Look, he has all the ingredients to be a top class striker and he shows that now in every game. In a game like that today, again he is quick, he is quick to close down, he can dribble, he has short backlift. He has a killer instinct and it shows again that the South Americans, at the moment in world football, are the leading strikers. You have to acknowledge that. If you look through the top strikers in Europe, they are basically all South American now.

Alexis’ hat-trick took him …

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