‘I had been haunted in my head by last year’s injury’Boxing Day thigh problem led to three months out

Arsène Wenger has admitted that he endured a nightmarish flashback when Aaron Ramsey was injured playing for Wales in Andorra on Tuesday night.

The Arsenal manager rated Ramsey as a doubt for the Premier League visit of Manchester City on Saturday lunchtime but his overriding emotion was one of relief that the midfielder’s ankle problem did not appear more serious.

Ramsey saw the finest season of his career interrupted last time out on Boxing Day when he injured his thigh at West Ham United. The injury sidelined him for a little over three months.

“I’m relieved because I had been haunted in my head by last year’s injury that was much more serious than expected,” Wenger said. “At the start, it was a little muscular injury and then it was three months.

“Even if he’s not completely ready for Saturday it’s a short-term injury. It’s an ankle strain and it’s a minor one, that’s for sure. He has a little chance to be available for Saturday.”

Ramsey rolled his ankle on Andorra’s heavily criticised 3G pitch and he was substituted by the Wales manager, Chris Coleman, as a precaution. The player spoke after the game of how the surface had been “very hard, with no give in it” but he said that the injury did not feel serious.

“[There were] bad tackles and on an artificial pitch,” Wenger said. “There’s nothing worse for the players than to change pitches. I’m personally against [artificial pitches] but I can understand the decision from Fifa because in some countries, sometimes it’s better to play on an artificial pitch than on a normal, bad pitch.

“In Russia in the winter, for example, the artificial pitch gives you the guarantee of a flat pitch. Also, the quality of the artificial pitches improves always and gets closer to what is a normal pitch.”

Wenger reported that Mikel Arteta, Mesut Özil and Kieran Gibbs would be available for selection against City after injuries.