Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger insists he's not trying to "disguise" anything over his fitness management of Alexis Sanchez.
Alexis played the full 90 for last night's Carabao Cup win over Doncaster Rovers.
He came off the bench against Liverpool and Bournemouth – the latter after another international break in which he played twice - before a 25-minute cameo at Stamford Bridge with Wenger claiming Sanchez simply requires careful management on his return from a truncated summer.
“Look there's not disguised attitude on my side, I just try to get him back to full fitness and for me the Europa League and the League Cup last night is important as well," the Arsenal manager told the London Evening Standard.
“So I just tried to give him competition and to get him back to his best because I gave him a long holiday and after that long holiday this year he had a real rest. He came back not really fit, it took us time to get him back and then he got injured and so if you add the injury and you add the rest time it was a bit long.
“And that's what last night you could see that he was coming back sharp now and that's why I left him on the pitch as well for 90 minutes because I wanted him to have a real go."