Danny Welbeck has expressed eagerness at the prospect of regular involvement as a central striker with Arsenal as the England forward settles into life at his new club following his deadline-day move from Manchester United.

Welbeck, who scored his first goals for his country in a little over a year to help defeat Switzerland in Basel on Monday, left Old Trafford in a £16m deal this month having been deemed surplus to requirements, the more so after the loan arrival of Radamel Falcao from Monaco as the cut-off approached. Welbeck’s career had rather stagnated at the club through whose academy he graduated, with opportunities limited this term under Louis van Gaal, but regular starts await at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal will be without Olivier Giroud until the new year and, with Theo Walcott not due back from a knee injury until the end of this month, Welbeck’s arrival is likely to see him employed at the tip of the team’s lineup, with Alexis Sánchez operating in a more withdrawn role.

“It is well known I prefer to play through the middle so when I get my opportunity I just want to show what I can do,” said Welbeck, who did a post-international warm-down in the gym on Wednesday on his first day training as an Arsenal player and is expected to make his debut in Saturday’s visit of the champions, Manchester City. “Once I get into the box and am getting the chances, I have got faith in my ability.

“Before, I wasn’t getting into the box because I wasn’t playing too much as a striker [for club or country], and I had to worry about my defensive work. Listen, anyone can say what they want to say but I just know once I get the opportunity and a run of games up front, I will do my best. That’s definitely what I need.”

Welbeck, who scored 20 goals in 92 top-flight games for United, enjoyed a series of appearances at the turn of the year and scored six times in as many league matches. “That was my last run [in the side], over Christmas last year, and I scored a few goals,” he said. “It is good for any footballer to get a run of games. You become more confident and play much more at ease, so to get a run would beabsolutely perfect. The game against Switzerland was my first 90 minutes this season, so it is just the start of things and I’m really looking forward to it.”

The 23-year-old may well be supplied by the Wales international Aaron Ramsey in that game against City after the midfielder played down fears over his fitness after injuring an ankle in Wales’s 2-1 Euro 2016 qualifying victory over Andorra. Ramsey, who picked up the injury while twisting on Andorra’s much-criticised artificial pitch, said he hoped to be fit to feature for Saturday.

He was assessed at London Colney on Wednesday evening. “I’ll be all right – the pitch was very hard there’s no give in it so I rolled my ankle a bit,” he said. “Hopefully it will be nothing and I’ll be available for Saturday. These are the games you want to play in and I’m looking forward to it.”

Uefa has said it will wait for the official report from the game before deciding whether the Andorra la Vella stadium can continue hosting European Championship matches.

Gareth Bale – who scored both Welsh goals in their 2-1 win – described the 3G pitch as “by far the worst I’ve ever played on”, while the manager, Chris Coleman, said: “In my opinion the pitch is not up to the standard of a Uefa qualifier. If you’re a passing team, forget it.”