Arsène Wenger has revealed Alexis Sánchez may miss only the first game of the Premier League season despite limited time off over the summer after helping Chile to a first Copa América title in 99 years.

Sánchez scored the winning penalty for Chile against Argentina in the Copa América final on 4 July – his 58th match of the season – having made his Arsenal debut in the Community Shield last August. Having also played a key role in Chile’s World Cup campaign last summer, the expectation was that the 26-year-old forward would be given an extended break, possibly until September.

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Arsenal again contest the Community Shield against Chelsea on 2 August and, while Wenger has confirmed Sanchez, who is absent from the pre-season tour to Singapore, will not feature at Wembley or in the Premier League opener at home to West Ham on 9 August, he did not rule out the Chilean’s return a week later at Crystal Palace.

“Alexis will be back on 3 August. Usually it takes three weeks to be competitive. With Alexis it could be a bit less. He will miss certainly the first game,” said Wenger. “He is an important player for us and he showed he has the winning mentality when he took on the responsibility to take the last penalty in the Copa América final against Argentina.”

Wenger’s bullish comments come as a surprise after Arsenal struggled more than most at the start of last season following the World Cup last summer. The German trio Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski were particularly ineffective in an insipid start to the season and by December Arsenal were in eighth place and ultimately unable to catch the champions, Chelsea, despite an impressive run of form in the new year.

The Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina was also involved in the latter stages of the Copa América and is absent from Singapore but is of less concern to Wenger after the signing of Petr Cech from Chelsea.

“It’s true not many players leave Chelsea for Arsenal but the deal itself was not too difficult,” Wenger added. “The decision was difficult because I felt our two goalkeepers did very well last season, but, on the other hand, we could add experience and strengthen the belief of our squad.”

It is a view shared by a one of those German World Cup winners from Brazil, who will be playing directly in front of Cech. Mertesacker said: “There’s even more belief now and we feel very confident at the back. There are many doubters out there but we feel a lot stronger with Petr Cech.”