Aaron Ramsey is out running again, but he’s set to stay on the sidelines until January, according to manager Arsène Wenger.

Ramsey fell injured against Southampton, although he had to complete the 90 minutes anyway, as Arsenal had already used up all their substitutions.

Wenger had mixed news for his press conference ahead of the West Ham match on Tuesday, explaining: “Ramsey was out running [on Monday] but he will not be back in the next 10 days. For him, the beginning of January is more likely.”

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Whilst it’s good to hear that the 26-year-old is already back running again, it’s not such great news to find out he won’t be able to play any further part in the hectic festive period.

The Welshman had been in fantastic form for the Gunners, with three goals and six assists in 15 games from central midfield.

As we highlighted in our article on how Arsenal should deal with losing Ramsey, the Gunners still have another four matches before the end of the month – West Ham, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion in the space of 12 days.

Although Wenger has changed formation, he’s stuck with a midfield-two so far, with Jack Wilshere simply stepping into Ramsey’s vacant position alongside Granit Xhaka.

That will likely change against the Hammers, as it generally does in the League Cup, but the Palace and West Brom games seem too close together for Wilshere and Xhaka to play both, so Mohamed Elneny or Francis Coquelin could be set for a rare league start.

After that it’s Chelsea, on January 3, and I don’t really want to think about playing them without Ramsey, so let’s just hope he’s back on time.