Are Arsenal Relying Too Much On Alexis Sanchez?

By Trevor Murray on November 1, 2014

Newsfeeds were overtaken on Saturday with memes and jokes galore that Arsenal are fast becoming a one-man show, a team that relies far too heavily on the skill and goals of a single player. Some of their fans will argue that rather than being 11 men with an envious team spirit and a sense of collectiveness, Arsene Wenger‘s men are instead relying an unhealthy amount on summer capture Alexis Sanchez.

And they might well have an excellent point , but something tells me it’s probably not as cut and dry as it first appears.

The stats don’t lie. Sanchez’s seven Premier League goals this season would lead you to believe that he is far and away their best player, putting away chances regularly and helping to keep his club afloat this season. Three goals ahead of the reinvented Danny Welbeck in the club’s goalscoring charts tells you that the former Barcelona star is, without question, their principal goal-getter, the guy they look to when the chips are down. But is that really the case?

Fortunately for Gunners fans, it really isn’t.

First of all, Welbeck only joined the North London club from Manchester United on transfer deadline day, forcing him to miss their first three games, so he’s been playing catch-up since coming on board, and he’s doing a pretty good job of it so far. Considering it’s going to take the 23-year-old a few months to really get into his stride, the positive early signs he’s emitted are even more encouraging.

Despite not scoring on Saturday afternoon, the England international can become the striker he’s been trying so hard to. With a little more game time and continued belief in his ability from the Emirates faithful and the backroom staff, he can easily find himself with a haul of 15 or more league goals this campaign.

Add to this the fact that Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Burnley at the weekend was also inspired by a Calum Chambers goal and assist, and it’s clear they are doing their best as a unit. Managing to keep a clean sheet against the Clarets is also something they should point to as an indicator of their togetherness as they continue to strive towards improvement as a whole.

Netting a brace against a team that holds the second-worst defensive record in the league, just a goal behind Harry Redknapp‘s Queens Park Rangers, suggests that the £35 million Chilean international would have been disappointed with anything else. While it would be harsh to expect Sanchez to carry the team, he has the right set of skills to undo just about any defence, and that’s precisely what he did to Sean Dyche‘s charges.

Moving on from here, they face a testing battle against Anderlecht in the Champions League during the week, and if they can use the narrative of themselves painted as a one-man team to drive themselves on, Sanchez’s heroics might well prove an indirect catalyst for their season. While they’ll be over the moon with his performances, they won’t want their team reputation to become a joke, not following a season tinted with silverware.

Trevor Murray is a soccer writer at www.RantSports.com. You can follow him on twitter @TrevorM90, ‘”like” him on Facebook or add him to your circles in Google+.