MICHAEL CARRICK has confirmed Aaron Ramsey has suffered an ankle injury – but is hoping the Middlesbrough forward’s problem is not too serious.

Ramsey was forced off with an ankle problem during the first half of this evening’s 5-1 thrashing of Norwich City at the Riverside.

Having opened the scoring in the seventh minute, the Aston Villa loanee was left in obvious pain after he was caught while trying to skip past a sliding challenge from Max Aarons.

He tried to carry on despite two separate bouts of treatment, but was eventually forced to accept defeat and hobble from the field.

He will be assessed over the weekend, but is already a major doubt for Wednesday’s home game with Hull City.

Carrick said: “It’s his ankle. I’ve got no other news on it at this stage, which is all you can expect really so soon after the game. We’ll just have to hope that it’s not too bad.

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“He’s been terrific in recent weeks, so it’s a blow for him as much as us because he’s in a good moment. We’ll just have to see how he is, hopefully he’s not too bad.”

Ramsey’s injury came after he had been a key performer in the opening quarter-of-an-hour, with his goal coming at the end of a flowing passing move that also involved Marcus Forss, Chuba Akpom and Cameron Archer.

Carrick said: “I just think AJ played his normal game. He’s scored goals and looked dangerous.

“I’m pleased for him to get any goal. It was an important goal for us, and he deserves it for how he’s played in recent weeks. I was pleased to see him score, but not so pleased to see him not be able to carry on.”