Middlesbrough boss Tony Pulis is angry over Paul Kitson's claims of his role in the broken leg injury of Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey eight years ago.

In a column for The Sun earlier this month, former Stoke striker Dave Kitson said that Pulis' behaviour contributed to Ryan Shawcross breaking Ramsey's leg with a mistimed challenge back in February, 2010.

Pulis responded in the Telegraph: "Football is a physical game, but we've had one player sent off this season and that was for pulling somebody's shirt.

"We've not had anyone sent off for bad tackles or violent conduct this season. If you look at my record, I've had more than 1000 games [as a manager] and if you look at the stats, none of my teams were the dirtiest in the division. We didn't have the most yellow or red cards.

"As for the accusation I would tell my players to deliberately try and injure someone, I won't dignify that question with an answer, that is just a ridiculous statement, ridiculous… it's nonsense."