'I'm a different person on the pitch'

Aaron Ramsey says he becomes a more tenacious and competitive person when he is playing football.

The Wales midfielder is quiet and easy-going off the pitch, but that all changes when he crosses the white line to represent Arsenal.

“It’s pretty much like flicking a switch in my head,” Ramsey told Arsenal Player. “I give everything when I’m on the pitch or on the training pitch. When I’m at the training ground and working in the gym or whatever, I always give everything that I’ve got.

“As soon as you feel as though you have a responsibility in the team, you’re confident, you want to be out there expressing yourself and I’m in that place. In this team I feel comfortable enough to feel as though I can play my best football. I’m really happy on the pitch at the moment.

Ramsey has suffered setbacks in his career and insists the best way to bounce back from a frustrating defeat is to focus on other things away from football.

“You’re disappointed with the result but there’s nothing you can do with that now so it’s important to put that to the back of your mind, learn from what went wrong there and focus on the next game,” he said. “You have to prove what you can do and that you can get back to winning ways.

“I’m not one of those people who goes home and has to put football on the TV straight away or has to watch Sky Sports News. It’s important to take your mind off football otherwise you become too obsessed and you look into things too much.

“You could have problems when you do that, when you then go onto the pitch and play, so it’s important to take your mind off it. When you’re there and playing it’s important to focus 100 per cent on what you’re doing.

“I play golf to take my mind off [football]. I have a family who are very important in my life as well and they help me to take my mind away from it. When you are playing football you have to give everything and focus 100 per cent on trying to do your best but it’s important to have the right balance.”