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