LONDON, England, October 8- Arsenal have cause for a double celebration as Arsene Wenger and Aaron Ramsey collected the Barclays manager and player of the month awards respectively.
The Gunners began September with a 1-0 win over Tottenham and went on to record three more Premier League victories – over Sunderland, Stoke and Swansea.
Arsenal started the month in 12th on three points from two games and ended it top of the league on 15 points.
Ramsey was instrumental in their success, hitting a rich vein of form that saw him score four times, including a brace at Sunderland and the winner at Swansea.
Wenger has been full of praise for Ramsey’s performances this season, saying he is now fully recovered from the horrific injury he suffered against Stoke back in February 2010.
“It took him a long time to get completely over that, especially in duels, in fights (for the ball),” said Wenger last month.
“He was resistant to go into the fights for a long, long time but now he’s over it.
“He had a difficult period last season where people became a little bit impatient with him. He lost confidence and sometimes, if you give the players a little rest, it can rebuild their confidence.
“They can think about their game and come back stronger and that’s what happened to him.
“As for the rest, he scores goals now. I always thought he would score goals if he improved his technical quality.
“When you watched the games, you saw him always in good positions in the box. When he got the chances he missed sometimes but he has improved tremendously on that.
“He has a great engine, a great spirit and has an obsession, he always wants to be better. That is, of course, a very good ingredient.”
Ramsey says he never had any doubts about his ability but has admitted that it did take time for him to regain peak form.
“I never feared that I wouldn’t return. I felt it was always there. I just needed to believe again and get that confidence,” said the midfielder.
“I had a lot of support from friends and family, and I had the trust that the manager put in me.
“All these things added up over a period of time. You have to keep believing and working hard, and it just clicks all of a sudden and you are full of confidence.
“I am delighted with myself and the team. After the disappointing start against Villa, we have turned things around.”
Sky Sports expert Jamie Redknapp believes Ramsey has shown traits of Arsenal’s greatest midfielders this season.
“I think about Vieira and Petit and those big guns and that’s what he’s doing now. There’s a little bit of Fabregas in there as well because he’s adding goals,” Redknapp said after the win over Swansea in September.
“He looks a complete midfielder at the moment.”
– Football365.com
