Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey on Wednesday played down fears he could miss his side’s showdown with Manchester City on Saturday after twisting his ankle on international duty with Wales.
The 23-year-old sustained the injury during the latter stages of Wales’s 2-1 win away to Andorra in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier on Tuesday, with national coach Chris Coleman revealing he had twisted his ankle.
But in comments reported by the BBC, Ramsey said: “I’ll be alright. The pitch was very hard. There’s no give in it, so I rolled my ankle a bit.
“Hopefully it will be nothing and I’ll be available for Saturday. These are the games you want to play in and I’m looking forward to it.”
Wales required two goals from Gareth Bale, including a late free-kick, to see off an Andorra side who had lost their previous 44 competitive games.
The Real Madrid forward was critical of the artificial 3G pitch at the Estadio Nacional, which had been the subject of scrutiny in the build-up to the game.
“This is by far the worst pitch I’ve ever played on,” Bale said.
“But it’s the same for both teams and we said in the changing room before the game, no matter how we get the three points, we get them, and that’s what we did.”
Coleman added: “In my opinion, the pitch is not up to the standard of a UEFA qualifier. But I don’t want to make a protest because I want other teams to come here.
“I didn’t want to say anything about the pitch before the game, but I can now and if you’re a passing team, forget it.”