Arsene Wenger has revealed that Alexis Sanchez is due to return to training on Monday and will have a full week to prove his fitness ahead of Arsenal’s game with Manchester City on 21 December.

The boss admits the Chile international could be short on fitness having sustained a hamstring injury two weeks ago against Norwich, however, he’s loathed to rule the striker out just yet.

Ahead of Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa the boss told his weekly press conference: “Alexis is back on Sunday, he trains on Monday morning at 9.30am.

“He is running already… I sent him back to Chile, where he has been running with the physio of the national team, and we will see what kind of state he is in next week.

“He may be a bit short for City, certainly, but with Alexis you never know.”

Arsenal will likely field hat-trick hero Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Joel Campbell tomorrow afternoon with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain an option off the bench. As well as the injured Alexis, the Gunners also have Danny Welbeck to bolster their attacking options in January.