Arsenal appear to be preparing us for the possibility that Thomas Partey will not be able to play again this season.
The Ghanaian was unable to complete the 90 minutes against Crystal Palace on Monday after aggravating a previous thigh injury, and has had to be assessed in recent days.
Arsenal Media has now released an update to confirm that a scan has shown muscle damage to his right thigh, and that he will continue to be assessed in the coming weeks, seemingly ruling him out for much of (if not all) of the remainder of the campaign, with just six weeks left of the Premier League.
The release claimed that ‘everyone’ will be working to get him back playing ‘as soon as possible’, but it doesn’t sound like he is likely to return in time to take on any of Chelsea, Man United and West Ham, all of which are played in the next three weeks, which leaves us needing one of our squad members to step up.
Albert Sambi Lokonga is the obvious choice to come into the side in his absence, but he has only been trusted by Mikel Arteta to start one PL match in 2022, against Burnley when both of Partey and Xhaka were suspended. The manager has shown a willingness to switch up the formation to field his favoured players previously, and it may not be the biggest shock to see a 4-3-3 including ESR and Odegaard dropping in alongside Xhaka, but we also have the Tierney injury to deal with also.
Are we alone in reading into the official statement to take that he is unlikely to play again this term?
Patrick
It’s obvious Partey won’t be playing any more matches this season,
This shouldn’t stop the process, my only fear is Lokonga lacks the stamina to do justice to the midfield,
I wish Arteta will step up Miguel Azeez alongside Xhaka and Smith-Rowe in a 4-3-3 formation,
Azeez hasn’t had much game time but from the glimpse we’ve seen , he seems to have the confidence and strength,
What do I know,I’m just a fan.
@Longbenark “What do I know,I’m just a fan” True fellow Gooner. But if you read the insightful comments from contributors like Fairfan in paticular you will soon become worldly wise espcially with regards all things football especially Arsenal 🙂
😁😁
Key injuries, at the worst possible time…only at Arsenal.
I don’t think our injury curse will EVER stop!!
Lol, there’s no injury “curse”. If the team suffers from 2 injuries for known injury-prone players, its the manager’s fault for not expanding squad when had the chance.
Sadly all of our 3 key injuries are down to over playing and bringing back players too soon. In January Arteta decided he was going to play half a season with just the 12 players he fully trusted. The others would only be used if injury or suspension struck. The plan has to be fair worked quite brilliantly till just last week. Now Arteta simply has to field players he previously believed were not good enough which will make for compelling viewing these next 6 weeks. We need to get 3 points off Brighton and for the Villa crowd to take points off the Spudeeroos. Then the pundits can look at the table and “reveal” that it’s ours for the taking …again 🙂
Exactly the issue us “negative” fans were concerned about in January
1 – thin squad
2- lack of rotation for fringe players that are now not match fit
Key injuries was something the great Arsene had to put up with season after season but he still managed to get top 4 ,so it should be child’s play for the Matabore ,especially after the financial backing he’s received.
No excuses
This is a self inflicted situation. Club clearly had money as we saw with the Dusan bid.
Not just Arteta to blame, but Edu and the board should be responsible as well.
Top 4 is so important to the club going forward that to take this risk is just amateurish.
Chambers for free who can play 3 positions; DM and RB. Many feared injuries could bite us, and here we are.
Avoidable situation, but ego and inexperience may cost us yet again. But hey, BLINDLY trust the process, right?
fairfan
I genuinely think never again will we ever find ourselves with the squad so dangerously thin.
What about this Miguel Azeez kid Fairfan, you stop short of responding to Longbenark about.
Saw this kid just once, though young was very impressed with his turn and agility
@Gunsmoke. There is no smoking gun. I was having fun with Longbenark trying to butter him up 🙂 Arteta did take a risk by using just 12 players for so long. When we surged to 4th place no one complained though in fact he was manager of the month. But two injuries in a week is gong to ask questions of the squad depth. I think we will be fine. Miguel Azeez has a certain X factor that’s true but in his four months at Portsmouth he only got on the field 6 times so maybe he is not ready? However he like Saka ESR Balogun Martinelli Lokoga even Tavares have a refreshing no fear swagger.
Lol, kool mate like your style
It would’ve been good to sign top players in the January transfer window, but how many clubs sell their best players during that window ? Could we have signed lesser players, probably, but then they aren’t the type of player to push us on.
Looking forward to the summer transfer window when I expect Arteta to sign the players he wants.