Friday 27 November 2015 15:09, UK
Arsene Wenger has compared "street player" Alexis Sanchez's explosive style to a lion's hunting technique.
The Arsenal forward ended an eight-game goal drought with a double against Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday to help keep his side alive in the Champions League.
Sanchez again played 90 minutes against Dinamo despite burnout fears, and Wenger will check on the Chile star's minor hamstring strain before deciding whether to pick him at Norwich on Super Sunday.
But the Arsenal manager says he is constantly surprised by Sanchez's "remarkable resistance" and ability to recover between bursts.
"When he does something, he does it 100 per cent," said Wenger, who went on to compare his man to Leicester's in-form Jamie Vardy.
"So he finishes and you think, 'He's dead now.' But then he recovers and gives 100 per cent again, so you always see signs of exhaustion, but it's not because two days later he's fine.
"His style is very explosive and a very committed style. Vardy is a bit similar. They go when they go. They are like the lion, he has to catch the animal in the first 200 metres. If he doesn't get there, after he's dead. They are these kind of killers. When they go, it is to kill and after they have to stop."
Sanchez was playing top-level football in Chile in his mid-teens, and Wenger believes a sporting upbringing far removed from today's "pampered" youngsters' is one reason for his resilience.
"His resistance is remarkable," the Arsenal boss said. "What is also remarkable is that he goes to South America, he comes back Thursday night and on Saturday he can play without a problem, even if he's jet-lagged. He would have been a perfect tennis player.
"These are not players who have the traditional academic education that we give now to the players at 15 or 16. They have a physio every day. They are more street players, not pampered."
