Surely Arsenal must see that we desperately need another midfielder?

Reports say that Mo Elneny has suffered a serious injury and there are already questions how our midfield will look like tomorrow. It looks at first glance that Sambi will get another run-in with the team, as Partey’s return from injury is yet to be decided.

We may even have to stretch to AMN. A player we want to move on. Add to the fact that we’ve already moved Xhaka back to CM against Fulham, a position where he has proven to be a liability over the years, it just baffles me that we didn’t expect this given Partey’s injury record last year, which practically cost us the top 4.

I must say, I’ve been less than impressed with Tielemans from what I saw of him this year so far, but the state of our midfield has already dropped 2 levels without it’s main pivot – Partey. I will happily take a Premier league proven midfielder, especially given the fact we are starting to play midweek games pretty much every week until the WC.

We might get away with it against Aston Villa, who’ve been poor, but I have slight concerns it might be another tough game like Fulham, as I fear our midfield might get overrun. Then we go to old Trafford, a place where we rarely win. Without Partey and Zinchenko I am worried.

The wheels might start to come off, as you could saw with Liverpool. Their midfield has been poor, and they lost at OT, and despite hammering 9-0 a poor Bournemouth side, their start has been massively influenced with the misses of Thiago, Keita, Ox and Fabinho.

Just to highlight the importance of Partey, we had a 66% win record with him in the side last year, compared to just 42% without him. I hope the good results so far don’t blind us from the fact that we are short in depth and we adress an area that could’ve used some bodies without the injuries. Hopefully they force the issue.

It’s a team marathon, not a sprint, and our midfield needs more men to go the distance.