This Arsenal decision was stunning, I don’t understand it says Martin Keown

Martin Keown has spoken of his disbelief after Arsene Wenger left Alexis Sanchez out of his starting line-up for Arsenal’s 3-1 loss at Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday evening.

Arsene Wenger decided to leave the Chile international on the bench for the trip to their top-four rivals as the Arsenal boss started with Olivier Giroud, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Danny Welbeck.

Liverpool eased into a commanding first-half lead thanks to goals from Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane at Anfield as the visitors struggled to live with Jurgen Klopp’s forward players.

Wenger brought on Sanchez at half-time and the former Barcelona forward teed up Danny Welbeck to halve the deficit at the start of the second half. However, Georginio Wijnaldum restored Liverpool’s two-goal advantage with minutes remaining at Anfield to hoist the Reds above Arsenal and into fourth place in the table. 

Speaking to BBC One’s Match Of The Day show, former Arsenal defender Keown was critical of Wenger’s decision to omit Sanchez.  
“Dropping Sanchez was stunning,” Keown said. “I really can’t understand the thinking behind that.

He’s their best player. They didn’t actually play direct in the match.”