Arsene Wenger rues not resting Aaron Ramsey as Arsenal man suffers new injury
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger regrets not resting Aaron Ramsey after seeing the midfielder suffer a fresh injury following his return from an intensive spell of duty with Wales.
Ramsey faces around a month on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring problem during the second half of the 2-0 Champions League victory over Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.
Wenger accepts he should have given Ramsey a breather at Watford last weekend, but remains unimpressed by Wales' decision to play the 24-year-old for 90 minutes against Andorra in Cardiff on October 13.
Both Ramsey and Real Madrid's Gareth Bale, himself carrying an injury concern, scored in the match, before which qualification for the Euro 2016 finals was already secured.
"Aaron Ramsey, after international break, he has a chance to be back, so it is a three to four weeks job," said Wenger, whose side host Everton on Saturday.
"Maybe he was overloaded a little bit with games. Ideally I think not him nor Bale should have played against Andorra, because they were qualified, but unfortunately I could not decide that.
"I was in a position after that where I thought I could rest him against Watford. In the end I didn't do it and of course after, against Bayern, I had not much choice and we got punished.
"Ideally he should have had a breather, or at Watford. Realistically, the real breather he could have had was against Andorra."
Asked if he now regretted playing Ramsey at Watford, where he scored in the final goal of a 3-0 win, Wenger said: "Yes, because he got injured."
Wenger accepts clubs are somewhat powerless to prevent international managers from deploying their players in whatever manner they deem fit.
"It is a point of friction between clubs and national teams," said the Gunners boss, who in the past has seen the likes of midfielder Jack Wilshere sidelined with problems sustained while away with England.
Centre-back Gabriel is available again following illness, but captain Mikel Arteta (ankle) misses out against his former club.
Goalkeeper David Ospina (shoulder) is not available, while Jack Wilshere (fibula), forward Danny Welbeck and Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky (both knee) all continue their rehabilitation.
Roberto Martinez has stressed the importance of Everton not letting their promising start to the season go to waste.
Prior to the disappointing 3-0 home loss to Manchester United last Saturday, the Merseysiders' only Premier League defeat for the campaign to date had come at the hands of Manchester City.
A 3-0 win at Southampton and 3-1 home victory over champions Chelsea had been the stand-out results as Everton collected 13 points from their first eight fixtures.
And Toffees boss Martinez, whose men are currently ninth in the table, said: "The start of the season has been as challenging as we expected, but really, really good.
"I think we have showed signs of a really interesting season ahead.
"But, now, the start of the season will mean nothing if we don't carry on with some consistency.
"I do feel this period until the next international break is a very important one for us."
Martinez thinks his side have done well so far to cope with the demands both of a tough schedule of early fixtures and various injury problems.
Key to that has been the form of some less-experienced squad members who have stepped in, including 19-year-old full-back Brendan Galloway, who was this week named the club's player of the month for September.
After making his senior Everton debut in May, Galloway - with the likes of Leighton Baines sidelined - has gone on to feature in nine out of 11 games for the Toffees this term, as well as being involved with England Under-21s.
And Martinez said of the man he signed from Milton Keynes Dons in 2014: "Brendan keeps surprising everyone.
"His maturity is very impressive and I haven't seen him needing time to rest or a need to take him out of the team."
Everton midfielder Tom Cleverley could make his first-team return in against Arsenal.
Cleverley is being assessed by Martinez having played 60 minutes of an under-21 match on Tuesday in his first run-out since sustaining an ankle injury in August.
With winger Steven Pienaar also nearing a comeback after featuring in Tuesday's contest and full-back Baines among a group of other players making good progress in their rehabilitation, Martinez says he is "very close" to having a full squad.
Source: PAR
