Many raised an eyebrow or two when last Saturday’s line-up was announced with Aaron Ramsey replacing in-form Alex Song in central midfield.

But after the game, the Welshman was one of the best for the Gunners as he was full of running from start to end.

In his post-match interview, manager Arsene Wenger explained the reason why the 18-year old started from the first minute.

Aaron Ramsey

The Frenchman said:

Firstly, I wanted to rest Alex Song.

Secondly, Ramsey is 18-years-old and people forget. I set him a target to play between 15 and 20 games this year. So at some stage when you set a boy a target you give him a chance.

When we play every three days, I rotated it a little bit because I believe we have a real squad of 20 field players who are of a fantastic level and you can talk and talk and talk, but you have to do it on the pitch as well and give them a chance.

He has improved a lot. He has a tremendous engine and he already has good experience for an 18-year-old player.