The horrific double leg-break suffered by his teenage midfielder Aaron Ramsey was “beyond words”, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said.
Ramsey had surgery on Saturday night after the sickening injury following a challenge from Ryan Shawcross that earned the Stoke City defender a red card.
“I didn’t see many bad tackles in the game but that one was and it makes me very sad,” Wenger said in his weekly email to fans on Monday.
“To lose a player of that quality at 19 years of age when he is just starting his career is just horrendous. It is difficult to accept.
“I would prefer to give my support to Ramsey rather than to play the judge. He is a young, fantastic talent and for a boy of 19 with his talent to be kicked out of the game like that is beyond words.
“I could not even enjoy the win on Saturday night because it is so sad to see that.
“As you could see our players were shocked by the incident. You could see that they moved away from him.
“For five minutes our game was affected because we did not play. After that we got back into the game and showed great character to win it.
“On Saturday we had a midfield of (Samir) Nasri, (Cesc) Fabregas, Ramsey, (Alexandre) Song, (Emmanuel) Eboue with an average of 20 or 21. Up front Nicklas Bendtner is 21.
“At their age, to handle the game like they did is absolutely remarkable.”
Arsenal’s 3-1 success, combined with Chelsea‘s surprise 4-2 home defeat by Manchester City and Manchester United‘s absence on Carling Cup duty, closed things up at the top of the Premier League, where three points now divide the top three.
“We got closer to Chelsea on Saturday. It strengthens our belief and our determination and we will fight until the last game of the season to win the league,” Wenger said.
“The title race will be tight until the end but this group is so strong mentally and have a unity so Aaron’s injury will give us one more reason to fight until the end and do it for him.”
Reuters
