It was always going to be a big ask.
With 37 points in his previous two Gameweeks, Alexis Sanchez had constructed a culture of fear amongst his non-owners, urging more than 380,000 to doubtless spend transfer points to move swiftly and capture his services.
Such explosive returns built expectation and paranoia in equal measure. It was a risk to overlook Sanchez and, having been burned by sacrificing his services after Gameweek 11, I was not in the frame of mind to gamble again.
I was not alone.
Sanchez topped our captain poll and was duly skippered by 17.3% of managers today – just 11,000 shy of Chelsea’s Diego Costa who proved the most popular pick of Gameweek 15.
Of course, we could have perhaps anticipated a significant regression in his output.
Stoke City arrived in north London having conceded just three goals in their previous seven Premier League outings. The underlying statistics backed them to frustrate the Gunners and perhaps stifle the threat of Sanchez.
To an extent they succeeded, although eventually the Potters caved in to goals from Arsenal’s other midfield threats – Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott.
That offered a reminder of Arsenal’s attacking promise and that, while Sanchez clearly has to be considered as the key force, neither Ozil nor Walcott can be totally overlooked.
The latter, in particular, continues to produce numbers that outperform his initial 7.5 price tag, or even his current 8.0 valuation.
Walcott still boasts more shots in the box and shots on target than Sanchez. We may suffer the frustration of rotation on occasions, but, barring Swansea City’s Gylfi Sigurdsson, it’s difficult to find a midfielder in his bracket that can compete with the potential suggested by such numbers.
Sanchez is convincing, but we shouldn’t be blinkered to the promise elsewhere in Arsene Wenger’s midfield.
Appearing dejected when withdrawn by Wenger – Sanchez is currently showing real hunger and ambition in his play. For now, we will take the assist for Alex Iwobi’s third goal and look to Wednesday night’s visit to Goodison for a bigger return.
Tomorrow, the aforementioned Costa, along with Eden Hazard, backed by 17.5% and 9.4% with the armband respectively, will attempt to deal damage to the stubborn West Brom defence.
Significantly outscore Sanchez and it will create further doubt on the Gameweek 16 armband, with Chelsea at Sunderland and Spurs and Harry Kane welcoming Hull City to White Hart Lane.
Sanchez is just one key player embroiled in a fascinating phase of our season. The merry-go-round of in-form heavy-hitters took a major twist with the Sanchez Gameweek 14 haul.
Overlook him as our captain or, worse still, in our squads, and we will always live in fear of a repeat. Today’s modest return doesn’t change that: Sanchez can explode points at any time, perhaps against any opposition.
But it remains to be seen if the confidence in the Chilean as a captain remains strong should his big rivals deliver on Sunday.
