Alexis Sanchez scored his first goal in 434 minutes of football.
Football fans are a fickle bunch at times and Alexis Sanchez, of all people, has been receiving negative attention due to his ‘goal drought’.
Despite scoring 18 goals in all competitions, a run of seven games without a goal suddenly brought about many different theories.
Can Mesut Ozil and Sanchez play together? Has Alexis run himself into the ground?
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The fact of the matter is that the Chilean suffered a hamstring injury against Brighton in January and hasn’t quite been the same ever since.
Professional footballers often refer to these hamstring problems as ones with a more psychological impact as much as a physical one.
The pace you play at tends to dwindle without the full confidence in your muscles to withstand the physical intensity.
Alexis Sanchez is a player who consistently pushes himself to the edge and was obviously affected by the muscular scare. But with the individual quality he possess the ‘goal-drought’ wouldn’t last long. Arsene Wenger did say that the Chilean had in his mind that he was due a goal.
Wenger on @Alexis_Sanchez: “When you don’t score it is on your mind but he took his chance well. He scored a good goal.” #QPRvAFC
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) March 4, 2015
It is therefore testament to Alexis’s quality that the goal which lifts the pressure wasn’t a simple tap-in, but a wonderful individual goal that only he can produce.