Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has dismissed suggestions that his team’s celebrations after Alexis Sanchez’s first goal against Crystal Palace was a sign all is not well in the Gunners dressing room.
Amid speculation over the Chilean’s future, Sanchez, whose contract is due to expire in the summer, netted twice in a 3-2 victory at Selhurst Park.
Some of Sanchez’s team-mates did not go to celebrate with him after his first goal, which put the visitors 2-1 up, and former Arsenal star Thierry Henry felt that was significant.
But Wenger said: “Not at all. I didn’t see that.”
Speaking on Sky Sports, Arsenal’s record goalscorer said: “Look at the division of the team. Look at Sanchez, he is asking them to come. Then he’s saying ‘Hang on a minute, surely the team is not only five?’
“He’s talking to Lacazette, (saying) ‘Why are they not coming?’ He (Lacazette) is going ‘Well, I don’t know.”
“He’s like: ‘Hey guys, we are 2-1 up, don’t you want to celebrate? What is this?'”
Henry added: “You’re not here for Alexis Sanchez, you’re here for Arsenal. Arsenal score, go and celebrate with your team-mate.
“Maybe we’re trying to read too much into that, but I noticed it because Alexis Sanchez made me notice it because he turned and he was like ‘Hang on a minute, I’m alone here’. It was kind of weird. I wouldn’t have noticed it.”
Henry’s fellow Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness agreed that the manner of the celebrations spoke volumes.
The former Liverpool midfielder said: “That tells you it’s a divided dressing room. Some are not having Sanchez in that situation.
“I think it’s clear. I think it tells you there’s a dynamic going on in that dressing room that would suggest it’s not well.”