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Pep Guardiola on Alexis Sanchez transfer: I think he is going to stay at Arsenal

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has refused to rule out a move for Alexis Sanchez in January, but admitted he believes the Arsenal attacker will stay at the Emirates.

Sanchez failed to engineer a summer transfer to City and reports have suggested the Chilean will try again to force a move to Manchester in January.

Guardiola saw two of his best players pick up injuries against Crystal Palace on Sunday with Kevin De Bruyne stretched off late on and Gabriel Jesus breaking down in tears as he hobbled off in the first half.

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City will wait on news of De Bruyne’s injury and Guardiola admitted he could be forced to move for Sanchez should it be revealed the Belgian has suffered a serious injury.

Guardiola said: ‘He is a player from Arsenal and I think he is going to stay at Arsenal.

Alexis Sanchez warms up — Alexis Sanchez seems set to depart Arsenal at some point (Picture: PA)

Arsenal 2017/18 fixtures

Chelsea (H) – Wed Jan 3
Nottingham Forest (A) – Sun Jan 7 (FA Cup)
Chelsea (A) – Wed Jan 10 (EFL Cup)
Bournemouth (A) – Sun Jan 14
Crystal Palace (H) – Sat Jan 20
Chelsea (H) – Wed Jan 24 (EFL Cup)
Swansea (A) – Tues Jan 30
Everton (H) – Sat Feb 3
Tottenham (A) – Sat Feb 10

Pep Guardiola looks dejected on the subs bench — Pep Guardiola may need to dip into the market in January (Picture: AP)

‘Now it is just about recovering from today. Sometimes you ask for that, but I have a lot of things in my mind.

‘In two days, we have another game. In terms of what happens, we will have meetings and see what is best. But my feeling now is Alexis is an Arsenal player.’

Arsenal fans had begun to turn on Sanchez with the goalscorer’s form dropping off in recent months.

Pep Guardiola speaks out on January move for Alexis Sanchez after costly Man City injuries — (Picture: Getty)

Alexis Sanchez celebrates by sliding on his knees — (Picture: Getty)

Sanchez has not spoken out about his future and Arsene Wenger has refused to be drawn into debates about his future at the club.

The attacker’s contract expires next summer and it had been claimed Arsenal were considering cashing in on Sanchez rather than lose him for nothing in the summer.

Arsenal accepted a big-money bid from City in the summer to bring Sanchez to the Etihad, but the Gunners then pulled the plug on the deal when they failed to land Monaco star Thomas Lemar.