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Arsenal: Charles Watts has reveals Thomas Partey requested start against AFC Wimbledon

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Image for Arsenal: Charles Watts has reveals Thomas Partey requested start against AFC Wimbledon

Arsenal writer Charles Watts has revealed that Thomas Partey personally requested to start the club’s recent Carabao Cup game against AFC Wimbledon.

The Gunners strolled to a relatively simple 3-0 win over their League One opposition thanks to goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah.

While Mikel Arteta made 10 changes to the team that started against Burnley in their last game, Partey was the one man who kept his place in the squad.

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Watts has now outlined exactly why this was. He explained: “From what I understand as well, having spoken to someone close to Thomas Partey, he actually asked that he wanted to play in that game as well.

“Because he was in the same opinion, that he needed to get more fitness, to get his fitness level up ahead of what is going to be such a demanding physical game against Tottenham on Sunday.”

TIF Thoughts on Thomas Partey and Arsenal…

Having missed the early stages of the campaign thanks to an ankle injury suffered in pre-season, Partey made his return to the Arsenal starting lineup in the club’s recent league win over Burnley.

The Ghanaian managed 75 minutes at the weekend before being substituted and clearly wants to improve his fitness levels ahead of the important north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.

Partey will have more reason than most to be wary of his injury history ahead of this fixture. Indeed, last season, he rushed to get back to fitness prior to a clash against Spurs but failed to finish the game – infamously hobbling off as Tottenham scored their second goal of the day.

With this in mind, it’s clear as to why both player and manager felt the need to get some extra minutes into the Ghanaian’s legs in this midweek fixture.

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