Arsene Wenger reminds Alexis Sanchez he has not 'wasted' his time at Arsenal as he urges forward to stay

Arsene Wenger only decided to play Alexis Sanchez at 4pm on Tuesday but hailed the impact of his Chilean striker after another decisive intervention.

Arsenal were heading for a damaging draw against Sunderland when Sanchez scored twice in the final 15 minutes to get a crucial three points, just about keeping alive their push for fourth place.

Sanchez picked up an injury on Saturday and Wenger was pessimistic about his chances of playing this evening. He had an inconclusive fitness test on Monday and so Wenger left it as late as possible before deciding to pick his best player for this crucial game.

Sanchez’s two goals, his 22nd and 23rd in the Premier League this season, vindicated Wenger’s decision, and the Arsenal manager was delighted with how the evening went in the end.

“I felt he had something still left,” Wenger said. “But once he is on the pitch and has the ball he becomes the devil and forgets his pain.”

Sanchez is currently in a contract stand-off with Arsenal and is demanding a huge pay rise to even consider staying at the Emirates beyond this season. Wenger used Sanchez’s performance as another chance to emphasise to him the utility in staying at Arsenal, even as Chelsea and Manchester City hover.

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“Nobody questions his desire and his quality, but it shows as well, if you look at Sanchez’s numbers, he has developed here as a player,” Wenger said. “He has become a top-class player. He has not wasted his time here. Hopefully that will last for a long time.”

If Arsenal beat Everton on Sunday but Liverpool beat Middlesbrough then Arsenal will finish fifth with 75 points, and Wenger said that his team could take pride in that despite the disappointment that Europa League football would represent.

“I just think about let's make sure we win the game because we play against Everton,” Wenger said. “Even if you have only one per cent chance, you would have to play totally at 100 per cent but I think we have a good chance. It would be the first time you make 75 points and you are not in the top four.”

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David Moyes was proud of his Sunderland players and dismissed Wenger’s comments made on Monday that some Premier League teams had “released their focus” once they had nothing to fight for. Sunderland are already down but their players applied themselves against Arsenal and nearly got a point.

“I think that’s an insult to footballers,” Moyes said of Wenger’s comments. “I’ve been a player myself and I would hate anybody questioning me, saying I wasn’t going to be playing and was going to chuck it. That would probably get my goat up more than anything.”

Moyes said that British players had too much pride to ever give anything less than 100 per cent, a common theme of his this season. “The Premier League teams have got too much pride, the players have got too much pride,” Moyes insisted.

“I think when you are brought up in this country you are brought up to show that every game matters and whatever team you support, you play for the jersey. You would hope that every player would do that.”