Petr Cech explains what really happened on the bench with Sanchez laughing against Bayern Munich;

petr cech at training;

The future of Alexis Sanchez is giving many an Arsenal fan a headache right now.

With less than 18 months to run on his contract, Gunners supporters are all too aware that the failure to sign an extension could prompt a summer departure from the Emirates for their star Chilean.

His recent displays of petulance haven't exactly helped how he is being portrayed to the fans either.

Sanchez came in under heavy fire for appearing to smirk while sat on the bench as his teammates toiled to another humiliating 5-1 defeat to Bayern just a few weeks ago.

You can re-watch the incident in the video below, but it is easy to understand why that would rile certain supporters.

Well, the man who was sat beside him that night has leapt to his defence by revealing what Sanchez was actually doing.

According to Petr Cech, the pair were discussing how differently the match would have possibly panned out had Arsenal scored the second goal and insisted the forward was disappointed by the result.

“It is sad and he was as sad as I have seen him," Cech said, as per The Mirror.

"And unfortunately when you say the sentence, ‘had we scored the second goal everything could look different’ and then you do ‘ooh’ (as in the noise) you know.

“But obviously you can take the picture and you can interpret it the way you want unfortunately. But we the players we know exactly what he said and we know how he was hurting and he was as disappointed as anybody else. It is unfortunate and disappointing.”

Cech, who played second fiddle to David Ospina in the Champions League this term, also received criticism for joking with Manuel Neuer after the final whistle.

And with rumours of training ground bust-ups and dressing room splits emerging over the last few weeks, manager Arsene Wenger is under more pressure than ever to steady the ship.

Even though the Gunners are through to the FA Cup semi-finals and in contention for a place in the Premier League's top four, there are growing murmurs of discontent going around the Emirates.

Cech has defended the long-serving boss and believes it is now up to the players to take the heat off Wenger.

He added: "In a way the manager plays a big part but you as a player are on the pitch. He cannot make you run if you don’t want to he cannot make you make the right decision in the heat of the moment.

"The players obviously have to share the responsibility, everybody has to share the responsibility for the position we are in and everybody has to work to get ourselves out [of it]."

“This is the way it is. We have been...this week after Bayern especially was a difficult three days, we had to make sure we got ready and we got ready and this is the reaction you need.

“I think in football everything goes fast and as fast as you can go up you can go down. So basically every day you work to be ready.

“So as a player you focus on that and I believe as a manager he does the same thing. This is going to be the key now, be ready, be prepared as a team and then do the best we can do. Then I think if you bring the results, the atmosphere will change."