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JERMAINE JENAS EXCLUSIVE: It's not Wenger's fault Sanchez is injured

Jermaine Jenas defends Arsene Wenger over the injury to star player Alexis Sanchez, and says Daniel Sturridge could learn a thing or two from the Chilean.

Arsene Wenger has faced questions over his care for Alexis Sanchez after Arsenal's star player was forced off injured against Norwich on Sunday, a few days after suffering a "hamstring alarm" against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League. But in those situations Wenger and the Gunners medical staff can only listen to what the player tells them, and Sanchez would have undoubtedly declared himself fit to face the Canaries.

I've never seen a manager actually force a player to play in a match. It's more likely to happen the other way around. Sanchez is a special breed in terms of his eagerness to play all the time. The only comparable player in recent Premier League history is Luis Suarez. Whether it's for club, or country, in the League Cup, the FA Cup or against a minnow, both players demand to be on the pitch every game, giving every ounce of themselves. It comes down to the player knowing his own body, but the reality is that Premier League players are accustomed to constantly playing through pain.

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I remember playing a game for Spurs against Manchester City when I had a fractured toe. I had four injections in the toe before the game started. At half-time I was in agony, so I had another three injections and finished the game. Other times I've had a really tight quad before a game, but once I've started playing everything has loosened up and I've been fine. It's very tough to actually predict an injury.

Sanchez would have told Arsenal's medical staff his hamstring felt tight after the Zagreb game. They would have worked on it during the week with massage and rest, then Sanchez would have trained on Saturday before the Norwich game. He obviously came through that session fine, otherwise he wouldn't have started the match. It's true that you can't replicate the match situation in training, so Wenger has rely on what Sanchez - an experienced professional - told him.

Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez goes off injured against NorwichAction Images via Reuters / Andrew BoyersLivepic
Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez goes off injured against NorwichAction Images via Reuters / Andrew BoyersLivepic

If Wenger had rested Sanchez against Zagreb or Norwich - and personally I think they could have coped without him in the Champions League match - then he would have risked upsetting the player because Sanchez is a stubborn character who will insist on playing every match.

At the opposite end of the scale you have Daniel Sturridge, who pulled out of Liverpool's Europa League match against Bordeaux with a foot complaint, only for scan results to reveal that there was nothing wrong.

What this demonstrates is that players are different. Although I'm using Alexis as an example, he's an exception because the foreign players are usually the ones who are more mindful of their bodies and how they feel. I think they have prolonged careers because of it. For example, at Newcastle Celestine Babayaro used to regularly rule himself out of games because he had a tight hamstring. The English mentality is to play through it and not be a "wuss", but players can sometimes do themselves damage with that approach.

I must have played way over half the games in my career on anti-inflammatories. It was partly due to the way I played. It was a box-to-box and it had a heavy impact on my body. My groin, my joints, my knees, my back - they were all hurting. Other players might have listened to and respected their bodies more, but I didn't want to miss games. And I'm not putting myself in the Alexis bracket, because he is almost superhuman. My experience is fairly standard - there aren't many players playing at 100 per cent fitness. I think that's the point Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was making to Sturridge when he told him he needed to "manage pain".

Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge
Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge

Sturridge has had some big injuries, but his fitness issues seem to have become more of a mental than a physical problem, and that's when fear starts to dominate. It seems to me he has had so many injury setbacks that he doesn't trust his body any more - and that's a slippery slope.

I experienced something similar at QPR. After having a decent run in the Premier League for Rangers, when I played about 14 games on the spin, after we were relegated it was very stop-start for me. Eventually I was going into games not even thinking about the football. Instead I was simply thinking, 'Please body, just hang on'. So instead of enjoying playing, I was just fearing the worst, because when you repeatedly get injured it starts to become embarrassing.

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And Sturridge is probably fearing going out at Anfield and breaking down yet again in front of the cameras. Instead he's overscanning everything to make sure his body is in peak condition, whereas when you're playing regularly you don't think like that. You just ice it and keep going and going and going. Your body becomes conditioned to be in pain and you can play through it.

Sometimes you just have to dig in and play with tight muscles, although that does inevitably mean you may play slightly differently because you're trying to protect those weaker areas of your body.

If I was 100 per cent every game, I would have played a lot better, but you also have a job to do for the team, especially if you're a key player. That's what Klopp was saying to Sturridge. When I was at Tottenham, Gareth Bale always had a tight muscle, or he was knackered, because he gave so much in games. But he played through it.

Klopp knows Sturridge is a special talent who could get Liverpool into the top four, or even help them win the league one day. But sometimes players need a shake. Klopp only said what other people have been thinking. It would have been tougher for Brendan Rodgers to put his neck on the line and say that about Sturridge, given the pressure he was under. I think Klopp has a 'take him or leave him' attitude with Sturridge. He'd be quite prepared to sell him and buy someone else, so it's really down to Sturridge to prove himself to Klopp and that's why the manger has adopted a hard line. We all know Klopp likes a cuddle, but you can't cuddle people forever.