91�ȱ�

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has rejected the suggestion that he jeopardised the fitness of Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey.

Ramsey will miss Wales' World Cup qualifier against Moldova on 5 September after injuring his hamstring in Arsenal's 4-3 defeat by Liverpool.

Wales boss Chris Coleman had expected Ramsey to miss the start of the season.

"He played because he didn't play the final, nor the semi-final, nor the quarter-final," Wenger explained.

"That is the only reason and he had needed preparation time.

"So he was out [of the European Championships] basically two weeks before Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud."

Ramsey played the full game as Wales stunned Belgium 3-1 in the Euro 2016 quarter-final, though he missed their semi-final elimination by Portugal through suspension.

Coleman has made clear that he felt the injury was preventable.

"It's disappointing he's got an injury. Could it have been prevented? Possibly, yes," he said at his Wales press conference on Tuesday.

"I think we all expected him to [miss the start of the season], so I don't know what happened between then and when he ended up on the pitch.

"Obviously only Arsenal can answer that. I think, to a man, if you were looking at Arsenal's team sheet, it was a bit of a surprise he started.

"I think Aaron said himself [in France] that he wasn't expecting to."