Alexis Sanchez possesses the ability to turn Arsenal's season around, according to his former Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli.
The Gunners have lost five of their last eight games - with non-League Sutton United and Lincoln City opponents for two of their three wins - to see another Premier League tilt fade as well as their Champions League campaign ended in a 10-2 annihilation at the hands of Bayern Munich.
Sanchez is thought to be restless with the Gunners lack of success and reportedly fell out with team-mates before he was dropped for a 3-1 defeat at Liverpool.
The former Barcelona man was pictured smirking on the bench towards the end of the Gunners' 5-1 home defeat to Bayern, but Sampaoli - facing British media before his Sevilla side take on Leicester City - believes Sanchez has the force of character to make a difference for Arsenal.
"He is a top player, one of the best forwards in the world I would say," Sampaoli said.
"I was lucky to enjoy sharing a time with him in the national team, we went to the World Cup and won a Copa America together. It was a very satisfying moment of my career and great to share it with Alexis.
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"He is one of the best strikers in the world and irrespective of the team not going through the best patch of form at the moment, he is a player who can change that.
"Hopefully they will be able to depend on him so he will be able to turn things around as a player within that team."