Did Alexis Sanchez’s influential second-half display for Arsenal prove he should have started against Liverpool?

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When Arsenal traveled to Merseyside on Saturday, few expected it to be the first time that the Gunners have lined up without either Mesut Ozil or Alexis Sanchez since January 2016. Ozil’s absence was enforced through injury, but the Chilean’s was a bizarre tactical decision by Arsene Wenger.

The first half was one of Arsenal’s most woeful 45 minutes of the season, and in recent years, as Liverpool dominated them from start to finish, clearly buoyed in confidence by not having to deal with the threat of one of the Premier League’s best strikers. That freedom saw them take a 2-0 lead by half time.

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Then, the former Barcelona striker was finally introduced in place of the dreadful Francis Coquelin. Sanchez made his impact felt straight away, with his pace causing problems and his superb deliveries and passing creating chance after chance, including setting up Danny Welbeck to halve the deficit and bring the visitors back into the game.

Olivier Giroud was the preferred option up-front, but the Frenchman struggled with an injury throughout the first half and only really got into the game once Sanchez was introduced and helped to pull Nathaniel Clyne and Joel Matip out of position. Sanchez’s contribution could also have been decisive as he very nearly had Emre Can sent off for the home team as the German could do nothing withing the rulebook to stop the striker.

The question will be whether Wenger was right to drop the forward. Yes, they will host Bayern Munich at the Emirates but with four goals required it seems unlikely that the decision would have been to rest their star man for a crucial league clash, but defeat at Anfield saw them drop out of the top four which could be a real challenge to get back into.

Have your say below, should Arsene Wenger have started Alexis Sanchez at Anfield on Saturday evening?