Arsène Wenger’s decision to drop Alexis Sánchez may not have been tactical, according to pundits whom very little gets past.

The Chilean star only appeared for the second half of Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat at Liverpool, sparking frenzied speculation that leaving your best player on the bench might not be the strategic advantage it seems.

Match of the Day duo Phil Neville and Jermaine Jenas suspected something was up when they realised that dropping Sánchez hadn’t enabled the Gunners to suddenly start playing like Brazil 1970.

And when he went on to create his side’s only goal of the game, a series of dawning realisations landed on eminent pundits up and down the country.

Speaking exclusively to Football Burp, an expert analyst with absolutely no flies on him described how he arrived at his shocking conclusion.

He said: “When I saw the line-ups I just thought to myself, ‘Ah, the old drop-your-star-player routine – Arsène, you sly old dog!’

“But as Liverpool raced into a two-goal lead, it struck me that there might be more to this supposed game plan than meets the eye.

“It is my considered belief – my expert opinion, if you will – that some manner of training ground bust-up must have taken place, and as such Sánchez may be on his way out of the club.

“But I haven’t entirely closed my mind to the possibility that it may all be some kind of Russian conspiracy.”