Arsenal News: Wenger Feels Sanchez is 'One of the Fastest Players to Adapt To the Premier League'

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has showered praise on Alexis Sanchez, saying that the Chilean is "one of the fastest to adapt to the Premier League."

The 25-year-old winger, who arrived from Barcelona for a reported fee of £35 million in the summer, has become an instant hit in England, scoring 18 goals in all competitions for Arsenal so far.

Sanchez's excellent form this season has prompted Gunners legend Thierry Henry to admit that the forward has been Arsenal's "best signing in the last six years".

And Wenger feels that Sanchez has had an excellent start to his Arsenal career due to his attitude and adaptability.

"He is one of the fastest to adapt to the Premier League," said Wenger. "I believe it's because he feels accepted by the other players that he feels he is an important player."

Although most of Sanchez's goals have come at home this season, Wenger is confident that the Chilean can do equally well away from the Emirates as well, insisting that the former Barcelona man will be better if the whole team start playing better away from home.

"Yes, it's true that at Chelsea and Liverpool he wasn't at his best," added the Frenchman. "But he has some good away games too.

"It's maybe because the team has not been as effective away from home, because when you are a striker you depend a little bit on how much your team pushes forward.

"As a team we didn't play as well as we would like and it was difficult for the strikers to get good balls. We played with Alexis, Giroud and Welbeck and they didn't have the ball they need and maybe they weren't at their best at the time."

Finally Wenger, who has been impressed by Sanchez impact up front, says that he may continue playing the Chilean in an advanced forward role even after the return of Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott.

"It's possible, he is a player who can play through the middle - but not the way Giroud plays, but because of his mobility," the manager added.

"His two assets are the quality of his runs and his reception of the ball. He gets into areas where you can find him. When he gets the ball short he can run at people. But he can also play further forward because of the timing of his runs."