LONDON -- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said in-form forward Alexis Sanchez is "in the red zone physically" and in danger of picking up an injury, but is not likely to rest the Chilean for Saturday's game at Stoke.
Sanchez has scored nine Premier League goals in his first 13 games following a 35 million-pound move from Barcelona in the summer, and Wenger said this week that he had made the fastest start to a career in England by a foreign player.
With Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere among the big-name Arsenal players out injured, Wenger can hardly afford to lose Sanchez heading into the hectic Christmas period, but warned: "He is in the red zone.
"You can see that when he plays, but he can dig deep. I think he played his 27th game since the start of the season on Wednesday, if you consider the international games and the travelling on top of that.
"Unfortunately, you never know how far you can push. We are not scientific enough to predict that completely, but he has great recovery potential. He recovers very quickly, and he is always very sharp and ready to play.
"He has a huge desire, no complex and a fighting attitude. Even when he misses something, it doesn't affect him. I believe as well he is very mobile, very determined and he has the sense to be in the right place in the box."
Wenger stressed that he did not feel Arsenal were reliant on Sanchez's goals and said their return to form -- with three wins from the last three matches -- has been a collective effort.
"On the goal-scoring front you can say he is the dominant figure, but it doesn't reflect the truth to say Sanchez is the only player," he said.
"Three games is a good basis, but not enough to say there is momentum there. We have to go to create five, six or seven games to feel completely comfortable on that front, but it is a good period of the season to do it."