Sanchez
Petr Cech believes Alexis Sanchez's slow start to the season for Arsenal was due to his Copa America heroics with Chile.
Arsenal are reaping the benefits of Alexis Sanchez hitting top form according to goalkeeper Petr Cech.The ex-Barcelona forward netted a brace as Arsene Wenger's side stormed to a dominant 3-0 Premier League win over Manchester United on Sunday.
It extended Sanchez's current purple patch to six goals in three matches across all competitions - kicked off by a hat-trick in the 5-2 win at Leicester City.
The 26-year-old failed to score on his previous eight appearances this term - something Cech attributes to Sanchez being fatigued after helping Chile to Copa America glory.
"It's always hard for the players when you have the Copa America," Cech told Arsenal Player. "He won it, he was there for a really long time, didn't have much break and then came back and needed to start again.
"You could see that everybody from the Copa America had a slow start, in other teams and competitions as well. We're pleased that he's back with his energy, with his enthusiasm and you can see that he feels confident and with performances like that, it's great for the team.
Sanchez opened the scoring with an impudent backheel against United and, by the time he clattered his second into the top corner, Arsenal were 3-0 to the good after 19 minutes.
"We put in the right intensity and the first goal helped," said Cech, who collected his fourth Arsenal clean sheet. "Once you go one up, you can get the game under control.
"What was good was that we searched for the second and third goals and they came pretty quickly. We managed to get ourselves the advantage and I think we did remarkably well to control the game afterwards."
The former Chelsea man added: "Every clean sheet counts. There was an important save right at the end of the first half, which I'm pleased with.
"The whole team defended very well as a unit against Manchester United and we deserved the clean sheet."
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