Fans pay tribute to Ramsey as Fabregas says: 'Suspension rules don't make sense'

Saturday March 6, 2010

ARSENAL players and fans paid tribute to injured midfielder Aaron Ramsey at the Emirates Stadium today as the teams took the field for the Gunners league clash with Burnley.

Supporters unfurled a banner with Ramsey's face on it as the first team ran out all wearing t-shirts bearing his Number 16 squad number.

The tribute came with Ramsey not knowing when he will return to action after breaking his ankle at Stoke City last week. It came as club captain Cesc Fabregas questionned whether Stoke's Ryan Shawcross, the man sent off for the challenge on Ramsey should have faced a stifffer penalty than a red card and a three match ban.

He told today's matchday programme: "The tackle was dangerous, it was terrible. I'm sure he wanted to win the ball but when your foot is that high - only he knows what he is trying to do. Everyone thinks we're playing Arsenal, we have to go in hard against them and I have no problems with the contact game. If opponents think that's the best way to beat us, no problem. But when you out your foot half a metre on someone's leg - that's not right. It's not the first time this season we have seen challenges like this but until someone breaks their leg, nobody speaks about it. It's happened to me twice this season and I was lucky I didn't get badly injured."

Fabregas, who scored in the first half against Burnley before going off injured himself, said: "I don't understand the rules for suspensions. Alex Song is missing two games for getting ten yellow cards for pulling a shirt, conceding a strategic free kick and so on. Yet, this player is just going to miss three three games. For me personally, they need to change the rule. They need to look at it case by case. You can pull a shirt of someone who is through on goal and get the same ban as someone who breaks someone's leg. It doesn't make sense."