Aaron Ramsey injury 'preventable', says Wales manager Chris Coleman

Chris Coleman and Aaron Ramsey celebrate at Wales' Euro 2016 homecoming parade

Chris Coleman believes the hamstring injury that has ruled Aaron Ramsey out of Wales' opening 2018 World Cup qualifier on 5 September could "possibly" have been prevented.

Wales boss Coleman expected Euro 2016 star Ramsey to miss the season's start.

But the midfielder was injured in Arsenal's Premier League opener against Liverpool and will not face Moldova.

"It's disappointing he's got an injury. Could it have been prevented? Possibly, yes," said Coleman.

Ramsey's appearance in the 4-3 defeat to Liverpool came on 14 August with the player having last appeared for Wales in their 3-1 Euro 2016 quarter-final win over Belgium on 1 July.

Coleman added: "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."

Coleman's comments have rekindled memories of a spat he had with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger over Ramsey last year, when the roles were effectively reversed.

This summer, Wales reached the Euro 2016 semi-finals, where they were beaten by Portugal as Ramsey watched from the stands because of a ban for collecting two yellow cards during the tournament.

Speaking after announcing his squad to face Moldova, Coleman said: "If you look at Rambo's physical stats, they're higher than anybody on the pitch in terms of his high-intensity sprints and the kilometres he covers.

"But he's still a human being, and it's not like we were knocked out in the group stage, it was a long tournament for Aaron, after a long, hard season.

"So I don't know why he was treated differently.

Aaron Ramsey also played in Arsenal's pre-season friendly against Manchester City in Gothenburg on 7 August

"For me as a manager, when I'm missing one of my best players, I think anybody would understand my disappointment."

Coleman says he does not expect Arsenal to change their approach and will not use the Ramsey situation against the Gunners.

"I think Arsenal have a certain way of doing things," he said.

"A lot has been said about their injury list, they're doing the same things now as they've always done - they're not going to change now.

"That's up to them, Aaron's Arsenal's player. I've got to say that I look at it and I'm disappointed because we've lost a great player.

"I'm not going to say, 'in hindsight', because I'm doing a job myself and I make decisions and sometimes look back and think I shouldn't have made that decision.

"So I won't use that against Arsenal. It's disappointing that we haven't got him."