Midfielder Aaron Ramsey, who has been a major contributor of Arsenal’s goals in the last 12 months, suffered an injury while playing for Wales in the Euro 2016 qualifiers. Wales managed a 2-1 win over Andorra in the qualifying match. After playing close to the final whistle, Ramsey had to be taken off in injury time with an ankle injury.
This has raised suspicion that Ramsey may miss the weekend’s home match against City. However, the midfielder clarified the rumours by saying that he is likely to be available for the upcoming Arsenal matches. According to the Guardian, he said:
“I’ll be all right – the pitch was very hard there’s no give in it so I rolled my ankle a bit. 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.”
Arsene Wenger will be least pleased about the injury, as he has always been highly critical of international matches – especially friendlies – causing disruption to his players. After failing to win the last two league matches, the importance of three points against City has been raised even further. The Champions League also returns with Arsenal travelling to Germany to take on Borussia Dortmund, a familiar opponent but a tough one nonetheless.
The North London outfit are already suffering from injuries to key individuals like Olivier Giroud and Mikel Arteta. Wenger has also not been happy with the early start to the season offering less recovery time to his players, who had just come back from the World Cup 2014.
Arsenal have an excellent home record against Manchester City, but that should not deter them from the fact that City are a wounded animal right now after they lost to Stoke City before the international break. Further, Arsenal are yet to keep a clean sheet in the three league matches.
