Sutton vs Arsenal: Arsene Wenger grants Alexis Sanchez leave of absence to attend Spanish tax case hearing

James Olley17 February 2017

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed that Alexis Sanchez had been given a leave of absence to fly out to Spain and appear in court as part of an ongoing tax fraud case.

Sanchez admitted defrauding the Spanish treasury of £865,000 between 2012 and 2013 while playing for Barcelona, and will attend a hearing before resuming training tomorrow.

He is unlikely to face Sutton United in Monday’s fifth round FA Cup tie, but Wenger claimed he will field a “normal team” and hinted at the inclusion of youngsters Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

Laurent Koscielny faces a scan this afternoon on a thigh problem sustained against Bayern while Granit Xhaka is available after serving a four-game domestic suspension.

Wenger admitted his team have to recover from their midweek drubbing.

"The main emotion is that everybody after a big disappointment regroups and focuses on what is in front of us - the next game - and to take care of the consequences a disappointing result can have on everybody’s spirit inside the club and to make sure that we bounce back and focus on the next game,” he said.

"That’s what life is about. We have to deal with that, with the media, and focus on what is our job.

"We can analyse with clarity what happened and focus and take care of what is in front of us and what we can influence.

"It’s not the last result - we can influence that when we play against Bayern at home.

"At the moment we have to look at our next game.

“I am here for 20 years and I think in life it is important that you do what you think is right.

"All the rest of it is judgement and I am in a public job and I have to accept that.

"I have to behave with my values and with the way that I see my job and accept that everybody can have an opinion on it."

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