Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says he has no idea why Alexis Sanchez took their missed penalty during their 4-1 win over Hull on Saturday.
Sanchez took responsibility ahead of regular taker Santi Cazorla but Hull goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic saved his effort.
Sanchez’s selfishness at the penalty spot earned him an unwanted record in Arsenal’s history books as he became the only Gunner to miss his first two penalties for the club.
That fact indicates that the Chilean rarely takes spot kicks, which makes it more baffling as to why he suddenly decided to today.
Luckily for Sanchez and Wenger it didn’t matter, as the Gunners went on to win the game comfortably.
The Chilean opened the scoring when he deflected Alex Iwobi’s effort into the net early on before Theo Walcott added a second just after the break.
Hull did get one back, but their joy didn’t last long as further strikes from Sanchez and Granit Xhaka rounded off the scoring for Wenger’s men.
On the missed penalty, Wenger said: “Santi was down to take it, I don’t know why it did not happen, they have a pecking order, it was not planned for Sanchez to take it.
“I want to know what happened and for it not to happen again. Overall anyone can miss a penalty, we have to accept that.”
Wenger was also happy with their performance against the Tigers.
“I feel overall it was a positive performance after playing away in the Champions League and away again today.
“We started well, dominated and were fluent. They defended well but overall we managed to score the goal then after the missed penalty we had to be serious and score the next goal.
Iwobi and Sanchez may have to fight it out over who claims the first goal after the youngster’s strike went in off the Chile international.
“I thought Iwobi, 100%. But Sanchez says he scored the goal,” Wenger added.
Despite a 4-1 scoreline, Saturday’s win at Hull was not always convincing for Arsenal, who came close to letting the 10 men Hull back into the game.
They should have been out of sight by half-time, but Alexis Sanchez missed a penalty which would have put them 2-0 up after he’d deflect in the opener from an Alex Iwobi shot. The lead was doubled by Theo Walcott but Wenger’s team seemed content to pass it about rather than put Hull to the sword.
Petr Cech conceded a penalty that gave the home side, who had Jake Livermore sent off, brief hope at 2-1 but Sanchez made it 3-1 before a late cracker from Granit Xhaka added some gloss to the scoreline.