Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey given green light to step up recovery with eyes on a return against Chelsea next month

Ramsey is still around a month away from a comeback but could hand the Gunners a boost with a return in the middle of their gruelling March schedule

Jack de Menezes
Tuesday 18 February 2014 13:51 GMT
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Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey goes down injured with a thigh strain in win at West Ham.
Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey goes down injured with a thigh strain in win at West Ham.

Arsenal’s form has dipped recently without the services of midfielder Aaron Ramsey, but the Welsh midfielder is targeting a return to action against Chelsea next month to help the Gunners push on in the quest for silverware towards the end of the season.

Ramsey’s form in the first half of the season was a revelation for Arsenal, given his struggles in recent years’ following his serious leg injury when he suffered a double-leg break in 2010. The 23-year-old is currently sidelined with a thigh injury that has dogged him in recent months, and it appears he will miss both Champions League fixtures against Bayern Munich across the next three weeks.

He attended a week’s warm-weather training in Dubai from which he returned last week, and has been given the green light to step-up his rehabilitation with a view to pencilling in a comeback date.

Ramsey, who has already scored 13 goals for his club in all competitions, originally picked up the injury during the Boxing Day victory over West Ham, and he suffered a further setback when he aggravated the thigh problem towards the end of January which ruled him out for a further six weeks.

A return for the Chelsea clash on March 22 would be a welcome boost for the Gunners, with the fixture bang in the middle of a tough run of fixtures against the likes of Bayern Munich and north London rivals Tottenham. Should he prove his fitness and face the Blues, he could also feature in the following match against fellow title contenders Manchester City, with another tough fixture a week later as they travel to Everton – not to mention a potential Champions League quarter-final in-between should they conquer Bayern.

Arsène Wenger did move to try and bring in cover for Ramsey as well as to aid any fatigue in his midfield, but the failure to land Germany international Julian Draxler forced the Frenchman’s hand into signing Swede Kim Källström.

The 31-year-old arrived with a back injury that immediately ruled him out for the first six weeks of his loan until the end of the season, which sparked fury among the Gunners’ faithful as to why they bothered bringing in an injured player when they needed an immediate impact.

Källström is receiving treatment on the problem abroad having picked it up while playing beach football on a warm-weather training trip with Spartak Moscow to Dubai.

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