It’s been impossible to ignore the stats doing the rounds about how much Alexis Sanchez has given the ball away in recent games, and while he is naturally a player who wants to make things happen and tries risky passes, his last couple of performances have been well below par from that point of view.

It’s something that Arsene Wenger is mindful of, and he wants the Chilean to try and find a better balance in his game, and stay further forward.

The lack of goals this season is put down, in part, to the fact he’s not playing as a striker like he did last season, but the manager will be urging him to stay higher up the pitch when we face West Ham tomorrow night.

“I think he struggles a bit at the moment to score as much as last year but last year he played much more at centre-forward,” said the Frenchman.

“This year I believe in games like Southampton he came a bit too deep. We play against teams that play very, very deep and I feel he loves to touch the ball so when he doesn’t get it as much as he wants he comes deep, but when you come deep you can’t score.

“It is as simple as that so maybe he has to find a better balance in his positional play.”

The manager has to decide how to cope with the absence of Aaron Ramsey, a key component of his midfield who will miss out because of a hamstring strain, and what to do with his defence.

A shift to a back four is a possibility, with Shkodran Mustafi still injured and Per Mertesacker unconvincing against Southampton.