Mikel Arteta has admitted that he is worried about the future availability of Arsenal star Thomas Partey after he had to be withdrawn against Crystal Palace.
The Ghanaian enforcer was far from at his best during the Monday Night Football clash, but things went from bad to worse when he appeared to be struggling to get around the pitch, later being replaced by Lokonga after 74 minutes.
The manager later admitted that he was worried about his star midfielder, claiming that he may have aggravated a previous injury.
Arteta told Arsenal Media after the full-time whistle: “I don’t know, but he felt something in the same area that he got injured previously, so it’s a big concern.”
With the race for the top-four hotting up, I can’t think of a worse time to lose our main man in midfield. Our loss on Monday will pile the pressure on us going into our next match, which we will thankfully get the advantage of playing at home in, but against the likes of Yves Bissouma in the middle, Partey’s strength would definitely have been a huge plus.
At this point it seems unlikely that Partey is going to be making a return at the weekend for that matchup, but we will have to keep our fingers crossed he doesn’t miss much more than that.
Will Lokonga simply take up his place if Partey is ruled out or could the manager be forced to consider an alternative?
Patrick
It’s not just Partey we are going to miss, but Tierney as well. Needs an operation and will be out for the rest of the season apparently.
no biggie, especially considering the regular rotation that Arteta has craftily employed during this “rebuilding” season; not to mention, his savvy winter window maneuverings…we were obviously well-prepared for any potential selection issues that could have arisen in the second-half of the season…should be smooth sailing in the home stretch
This is why we need to have decent back up arteta phewww
For all here who thought 72M for Pepe was our worst piece of business in years, take a closer look at Partey – 45M up front and close to 200 per week.
The deals for Ozil, Willian and Ben White are beginning to look like bargains, when compared to Partey’s.
Partey is a better player and has showed his quality severally since he joined.
The players themselves will tell you how much they love playing alongside him.
Thomas Partey will walk into any team in the world because he is quality.
He will not last with the medics and will come good to help with our course.
Shrewed signing that was and I cannot wait to see us finish among the top 4 this season as well as watch Partey play alongside other quality Arteta signings and in the Champions League come next season.
Partey’s injuries are becoming very frequent and this is disrupting our rhythm, i hope his latest injury is not long term.