Arsenal injury news: Aaron Ramsey out for another three weeks as hamstring injury proves worse than first feared

Ramsey will miss Arsenal's matches against Chelsea, Basel and Burnley and is not expected to feature in Wales's two World Cup qualifiers next month

Ramsey has completed light training this month but is yet to return to full contact (Getty)

Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Aaron Ramsey will miss another three weeks with the hamstring injury that he suffered in Arsenal's season-opening defeat by Liverpool, with the midfielder unlikely to feature in Wales’s World Cup qualifiers next month.

Wenger confirmed ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League encounter against rivals Chelsea that Ramsey will miss the midweek Champions League visit of Basel as well as next weekend’s clash at Burnley. Having initially been ruled out for up to four weeks, Ramsey has already missed six weeks and now looks set to be out for up to two months.

Writing in his programme notes ahead of the Chelsea match, Wenger said: “Aaron Ramsey is still struggling with his hamstring and I don’t think that he will be available for our next games against Basel or Burnley, so before the international break he will not be available.”

With Ramsey not playing since 13 August, Wales manager Chris Coleman is highly unlikely to name him in his squad to face Austria on 6 October as well as against Georgia three days later, meaning that Ramsey is almost certain to remain sidelined until Arsenal face Swansea on 15th October in the Premier League.

The Welshman was not afforded the same time off following Euro 2016 as was given to Mesut Özil, Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny, despite the German reaching the same stage of the European Championship as Wales did – the French pair went one step further to the final.

Wenger’s risk to rush Ramsey back didn’t pay off, as he suffered the hamstring injury on the opening weekend of the season, with Arsenal subsequently losing to Liverpool at home that triggered a wave of criticism aimed at Wenger for rushing the 25-year-old back too early.

There was one positive when the teams were named though in that Giroud is fit again to return after recovering from a toe injury, albeit to the substitutes’ bench where he has spent most of the season so far. After his exploits at Euro 2016, Giroud has not started a match for Arsenal this season, and Wenger could stick with Alexis Sanchez – who starts in attack once again – for the foreseeable future after the Chilean scored twice against Hull last weekend.