Arsenal Vs Watford: Alexis Sanchez mentality vital

Chile failed to qualify for the World Cup during the international break, and Arsene Wenger has admitted that it has affected Alexis Sanchez. Such is his importance to and influence on the side, his mentality is vital for Arsenal’s upcoming trip to Watford.

The blistering pace that the two Manchester clubs are setting at the top of the table put pressure on the rest of the league to keep up. Both have only dropped two points all season, are unbeaten throughout the year, and, City especially, seem to only be rounding into form.

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As a result, Arsenal, who suffered two losses in their first two games, must ensure that they win the games that they are expected to. And that is what Saturday’s deceptively tricky away trip to Watford is.

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And after an international break that saw Chile, shockingly, fail to qualify for next summer’s World Cup, Arsene Wenger has admitted that Alexis Sanchez may be affected mentally. Speaking ahead of the weekend’s game, Wenger compared Sanchez to David Beckham, revealing that is in a ‘very difficult mind’:

"“I would say you have in every generation a player who carries the pressure of expectation of a nation. In England it was Beckham. In Chile it’s Sanchez. He is as well in a very difficult mind. Chile just won the Copa America twice and now they don’t even go to the World Cup. Sanchez is 29 at the end of the year, so the next one he will be 33. He expected to go. Certainly [it is] a big disappointment for him. But I believe to play at the top level as well, it is part of dealing with that kind of disappointment.”"

Such is the importance and influence of Sanchez, that if he is short of his best in any way, then the Arsenal attack will be blunted significantly. And those issues are only compounded by the potential absence of Mesut Ozil, who is still working his way back from a knee inflammation.

Moreover, Watford are a well-drilled and disciplined team. Marco Silva is an excellent manager. He is tactically astute, he motivates his plays to work tirelessly for the cause, and his input has been proven in their defensive success this year.

Although they have conceded 12 goals this season, which is a tally bettered by only two other teams in the whole division, nine of those goals came against Liverpool and Manchester City. Now, it would remiss to simply ignore those nine goals. They did, after all, concede nine goals in two games, which is never good. But it certainly inflates the statistic to a level that is deceiving.

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This is a team that Arsenal could struggle to break down. Space will be tight and chances will be hard to carve out. It could take a moment of Sanchez magic to break the deadlock. Can such a moment be expected if he is mentally absent?