ALEXIS SANCHEZ played until the final whistle of Arsenal's 3-0 victory over Dinamo Zagreb at the Emirates Stadium, with Arsene Wenger insisting a "break makes him tired".
Sanchez was magnificent as the Gunners kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout phase for a 16th consecutive season, plundering two goals after Mesut Ozil had struck the opener.
With the club's marquee players firing against outclassed Dinamo, Arsenal head to Athens on December 9 knowing a 3-2 victory or better over Olympiacos will be enough to see them advance from Group F behind Bayern Munich.
The Gunners led 3-0 with 21 minutes remaining and, when asked why Sanchez was not substituted, Wenger said: "Because a break makes him tired.
"I would have loved to have done it in this game, but when you're 3-0 ahead, you're not in a position where you need him to work back. We put him central up front, where he could spare some energy. It's not like the flank, where he has to go up and down. I tried to compromise a little bit, rest him a little bit.
"Olivier Giroud had a little problem on his ankle over the weekend, so I decided to give him a little breather. I took Hector Bellerin off because he had a groin problem just before. Then of course, I couldn't take Sanchez off. We now have five days to recover anyway. I don't know how important Alexis is percentage-wise, he's just a very important player."
Sanchez and Ozil cost a combined £77 million and, when it was pointed out that the two record signings had swept Arsenal to the brink of qualification despite a disastrous start to the group, Wenger laughed off his reputation as a spendthrift.
"No, I don't agree with you. I invite you out one night and you will see that I like to spend money," Wenger said.
"It's you, the press, who gave me that reputation, but my friends don't think that."
Bayern thumped Olympiacos 4-0 to keep Arsenal in contention heading into the final round of group fixtures.
"We wanted to come out of the game with a chance to qualify. We needed to do the job and Bayern needed to do the job. Both did it well and it gives us a chance," Wenger said.
"How big the chance is I don't know, but I believe we can do it. If you can win 1-0, you can win 2-0 as well. For us, the task has one advantage - it's very clear."
Dinamo Zagreb coach Zoran Mamic is backing Arsenal to produce the result they need in the Greek capital.
"They played much better than in the first match against us. It's not easy to play against such quality players. When they put the pace on, it was very difficult for us," Mamic said
"I'm sure they can go through. They have a good chance. They are a higher quality team than Olympiacos and my opinion is that they will go through."
