Arsene Wenger Accused of 'Cheap Shot' by Chris Coleman over Aaron Ramsey Injury

Wales manager Chris Coleman his hit back at Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger after claims Aaron Ramsey’s exploits on international duty were responsible for his recent injury.

The Gunners boss was unhappy with the midfielder featuring for Wales in what was a dead rubber-game against Andorra, suggesting the injuries picked up by Ramsey and team-mate Gareth Bale were linked to their appearances. But Coleman has reacted angrily to those claims, insisting that simply isn’t the case, per BBC Sport:

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I'm not going to sit back and let someone put blame on us. If Wenger has a problem with me or my selection, I'll gladly drive to Arsenal's training ground. Our job is hard enough as managers, without us having a chip at each other, especially a cheap shot which is exactly what it was.

If I get no correspondence from a club regarding their players that is a green light for us to play the player. And there was no correspondence from Arsenal from Wenger or his medical team. If he's got a problem with Aaron Ramsey, pick the phone up and tell me. He called Hodgson on Theo Walcott.

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Indeed, when domestic football resumed, Wenger was happy to play Ramsey for 90 minutes against Watford and then against Bayern Munich in the Champions League three days later. The same scenario occurred with Bale, as manager Rafa Benitez used him from the start against Levante in the first game after international duty before he suffered an injury.

While Arsenal’s form has been superb as of late, Ramsey's injury has left the team with little depth. With both Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also suffering with problems, it’s little surprise Wenger is frustrated with the club's current injury woes.

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Indeed, as Arsenal struggled to break the deadlock against Swansea City last weekend, before going on to win 3-0, gunnerblog lamented the absence of Ramsey:

You can understand Coleman’s angst, especially if he didn't receive any kind of advice from the Gunners on how many minutes they wanted Ramsey to feature. The clash against Andorra wasn’t the most strenuous of games, either, as the Welsh nonchalantly knocked the ball around in front of a celebratory crowd; they’d already confirmed qualification for the 2016 European Championships by this point.

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Ultimately, Wenger was more than happy for Ramsey to feature in two matches after the international break, with the Arsenal medical staff surely clearing the Welshman to play. If there was a risk of an issue and the Gunners did gamble on the fitness of the midfielder, then Ramsey’s current injury is something they’re culpable for, probably not the national team.