As many had hoped, Arsenal got off to a favourable start against Wolves on Saturday afternoon. It was a terrific start to the 2024–25 season with a 2-0 victory, with Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka assisting each other for the goals.
There were some positives to that victory, but there were also some concerns. One area of worry was Thomas Partey’s performance in the second half. The Ghana international was a bright spark in the first 45 minutes, and his effect was clear; he was all over Arsenal’s engine room, reminding us what a good 6 he is.
Unfortunately, his levels appear to have fallen during the second half. To be honest, he was slow and prone to making mistakes in the middle of the park, like we saw in the preseason versus Liverpool. This led to Arsenal losing their dominance and Wolves gaining confidence, which could have cost the North Londoners the game.
Mikel Arteta was asked about Partey’s performance after the game and he said: “Yeah well we had certain problems, especially in the second half with certain giveaways. It’s part of the game as well, and things that we can do better to be more consistent, and have more security, more purpose and dominate the game better. We will get better.”
Thomas Partey is a quality midfielder, as evidenced by his first-half performance, but he definitely no longer has the energy to play the full 90 minutes. It’s about time that Arsenal’s technical bench moved on from him.
The Gunners need the Mikel Merino swoop completed as soon as possible; get him on board, into the system, and see him take over as the LCM while Martin Odegaard serves as the RCM and Declan Rice as the 6.
Although Partey is a talented player, his reliability is questionable.
Going forward, should Arteta either introduce him to see-off games or, if given the chance to start, withdraw him early to prevent fatigue from lowering his performance.
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