Charles Watts, the Arsenal correspondent for Goal, has been discussing Thomas Partey during a recent YouTube video following the club’s latest Premier League defeat.
Mikel Arteta’s side was beaten by Wolves on Sunday night, leaving the Gunners in 14th place having lost five of their opening ten league fixtures (as per BBC Sport).
The Gunners started the game with a midfield trio of Granit Xhaka, Dani Ceballos and Joe Willock but, in our view, they were unable to stamp their authority in the middle of the park versus Leander Dendoncker, Joao Moutinho and Daniel Podence, which is shown in the fact that they delivered weaker performance ratings (via WhoScored).
Arsenal signed Thomas Partey on transfer deadline day in a deal reportedly worth £45m but the Ghanaian to date has only featured for the North London club on five occasions (as per Transfermarkt).
Since picking up an injury during the first half versus Aston Villa earlier this month, Arteta has had to make do without the midfielder and according to Watts, there is no sign of him returning ahead of the North London derby, here is what he had to say:
“Unfortunately with Thomas Partey, it doesn’t look like he’s going to be back anytime soon. I spoke to Mikel [Arteta] about it.
“Initially, they didn’t think it was going to be that bad of an injury and they thought he could be back pretty soon.
“I asked Mikel, ‘Is it more serious than you first thought?’ And he said, ‘Yes’. He’s certainly ruled him out of the North London derby there unless he’s trying to play a few mind games.
“We’ve already seen how transformative he can be to this Arsenal team. If they’re going to have to be without him in the build-up to Christmas that is not going to be ideal at all.”
Can Arsenal cope without Thomas Partey for another few weeks?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on Charles Watts’ update regarding Thomas Partey…
It’s clear from what the journalist has had to say, in his view, the absence of Partey could be a big issue for the Arsenal boss heading into their December fixtures.
During the Christmas month, the Gunners will face Tottenham, Burnley, Southampton, Everton, Manchester City, Chelsea and Brighton in the Premier League (via arsenal.com).
Given that from that list of opponents, Arsenal are currently only above two of them in the table, you could be forgiven for thinking they may struggle during this upcoming run, especially without their £45m-rated midfield star.