Wenger regrets not resting Ramsey

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said regrets not resting Aaron Ramsey after the midfielder suffered a new injury following his return from international 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 said he should have given Ramsey a rest in the 3-0 win at Watford last weekend but, as he did when he revealed the extent of the injury on Thursday, he expressed displeasure at Wales’ decision to play the 24-year-old for 90 minutes against Andorra in Cardiff on Oct. 13.

Both Ramsey and Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale scored in the match, before which qualification for the Euro 2016 finals had been secured.

“Aaron Ramsey, after international break, he has a chance to be back, so it is a three to four-week job,” Wenger, whose side host Everton on Saturday, said.

TEAM NEWS: “@aaronramsey will be back after 3-4 weeks. @gpaulista5 is back in full training.” #AFCvEFC pic.twitter.com/JNHC6HnZ7X

– Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) October 23, 2015

“Maybe he was overloaded a little bit with games. Ideally I think neither 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 at Watford. Realistically, the real breather he could have had was against Andorra.”

Asked whether 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.”

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