I don´t want Wenger to rest me – Sanchez

Alexis Sanchez admits he has argued with Arsene Wenger over the Arsenal manager’s insistence that he should take more rest.

Wenger was heavily criticised over his continued use of Sanchez earlier in the season, with the Chile international spending much of his off-season with Chile at the Copa America and ultimately suffering a hamstring injury in December that kept him out of action for nearly two months.

Sanchez has now revealed the Arsenal manager often tries to slow him down, but he refuses to comply with the Frenchman because of his passion for the game.

“The manager sometimes says to me, ‘Have a rest’, but I don’t want to rest,” Sanchez told the official Arsenal website.

“I’d rather go home and do a bit of gym and exercise in my house to maintain my form. 

“I always want to play and to win because football’s my passion, it’s my life. That’s why every time we win, I’m really happy. I can’t be happy with drawing or losing a match. It actually makes me really sad when that happens. 

“Since I was a child I’ve always been annoyed if I didn’t win. If I lost a match I would be annoyed and then I would just want to train so that I could win the next day.

“I think [my passion] started in Tocopilla because I always used to play with older people. I always wanted to be a footballer, I always wanted to play. I was born to be a footballer.”