Thomas Partey injured once again – The Arsenal curse?

Arsenal have hardly been lucky with signings in the last few years. Kieran Tierney hardly kicked a ball for year after joining from Celtic, Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares likewise went at least a year on the treatment table if not more after being signed y Arteta, and now we have the curious case of Thomas Partey.

The 27 year-old arrived from Atletico Madrid as our big signing of the summer, where he had played three injury free years at the Spanish giants playing an average of 46 games per season. Then he arrived at the Emirates.

In his very first League start for the Gunners he was taken off with a thigh injury after playing half the match and he wasn’t seen again for a whole month, when he was judged ready to start against Tottenham in the North London Derby. Sadly he only managed to play the first 45 minutes again and, after being partly guilty for the Spuds first goal, suffered another thigh injury.

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 06: Jack Grealish of Aston Villa looks on as Mat Ryan of Arsenal makes a save during the Premier League match between Aston Villa and Arsenal at Villa Park on February 06, 2021. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Fast forward another six weeks, and Partey was gradually re-introduced and it was only last weekend that he played the whole 90 minutes in the draw with Man United, and managed over an hour against Wolves in midweek.

But today, it looks like our star signing has succumbed to yet another problem in today’s defeat at Aston Villa, and it is another muscle problem. “He had a muscular injury so we had to take him off,” Arteta told Arsenal.com. ‘He could not carry on playing.

“I don’t know [how bad it is],” he added.

“We will see the extent of the injury. He wasn’t feeling well enough to continue playing so we had to take him off.”

I am starting to feel resigned to the fact that he won’t be really fit enough to make a difference to us until next season. That seems to be Arsenal Modus Operandi with new signings nowadays…

23 Comments

  1. Ot how is Arteta still in a job ? He should count himself very fortunate because anywhere else he would be unemployed by now! Emery must be sat thinking I wasn’t anywhere near this bad and I got the boot! It’s absolutely disgusting where we are as a club and the owner and board don’t give a toss 😠 I wish Arteta would just bugger off now, you have no business being our manager!

    1. Ye he should be sacked. Way too many things gone wrong.

      1) 10 defeats in 23 matches
      2) immediately out of FA Cup because “rested players”
      3) burned bridges with Özil, Guendouzi, Saliba with their treatment. Maybe Torreira too
      4) sold Martinez and sanctioned Runarsson deal
      5) responsible for bringing in Willian, insist on starting him and still playing him
      6) whines about no preseason, as if we were the only team affected by CoVID
      7) ZERO improvement in our style of play in 12 months
      8) Partey has become the most injury prone player in our team. Why did we leave it to last day of thr window to activate his clause? He had no time to prepare physically to PL
      9) Tierney injury prone so we dont get back up LB and send AMN on loan

      1. The board will hope he will go on another little mini revival to justify keeping him! Out of all coaches in the europe I find it very hard to believe the number one choice was Man city’s number 2 with absolutely no experience as a first team coach! The ambition at the club is next to none.

    2. I just finished watching manu vs Everton and if Arteta can’t coach to get such a performance from his players then he doesn’t have any reason to be our coach.

      1. Yeah Mobella it’s as though they don’t even practice shooting in training, it’s so depressing, this is possibly the worst state I’ve ever seen Arsenal in.. Arteta must go, I have no more confidence in him.

  2. The injury thing is Totally Our Doing. Every player we’ve signed since we moved to the Emirates has been more injured playing for us than at other clubs.
    And no one is shouldering any of the responsibility for it.

    1. And when they leave the majority of them are less injury prone after a few months at a new club, with a few exceptions

  3. I was recently told on JA, that our injury problems had improved considerably compared to the days of AW… funny old game!!!

    A completely new medical team and yet it’s, at the very least, the same old story.

    So I now wait for the same ridiculous comments that were aimed at Wenger and his training methods to be churned out for Arteta.

    1. What do you think is responsible? because, i thought we had gone past it, with with different medical team and coaching staff. could it be an equipment error, maybe one of the equipment in the stadium.

      i wonder why the likes of Xhaka and Auba doesnt get injured despite playing much games

      1. No idea Adajim but I have put together some interesting figures and stats regarding the history of injuries by club, for the last three seasons – once they stop showing games on the TV, I’ll send them off to Pat as an article – some interesting facts – but they don’t explain our never ending injury problem… sorry my friend!!!

        1. Ken, I’m just hoping someone in the Club is walking the streets of Islington, looking for the black cat the team bus ran over. Maybe if it gets a proper burial the bad luck will stop!

      2. The likes of Auba never get injured because they never apply themselves in games. Always play safe like Xhaka.
        Players like Partey nd Tierney are very physical players and the Epl is tougher and faster than the other leagues they came from.
        That’s the effect its having on them.
        So unfortunate. Cos you just have to take note its usually muscle injuries.

        1. Khadii I absolutely agree with your comment.

          Certain player play within their comfort zone and manage themselves physically quite well…too well sometimes.

          Others push themselves at 110% for every second they are on the pitch…these are the players i love but unfortunately the cost is injuries quite often.

          Need to find a balance between the two. Managers should be proactive with players fitness and health, its difficult though.

    1. It’s definitely not because the EPL is so “tough”.

      We don’t always buy injury prone players but we certainly create them.

      It has to be a combination of training volume, timelines and mix along with facilities. Thinking about it now the majority our injury curse coincides with our move to the Emirates. Did we get a new training ground at the same time?

      From what I know Arsenal does little to no strength training. If thats true then we really need to start hitting the gym more.

      We have had a few players that no matter how much they play rarely get injured but you’ll always find those players at a club. We definitely have a problem….

  4. Mehn I wonder if am the only one not really interested.
    AFC is so frustrating big time..

    From Day1 have always reckon Matinelli’ as Auba replacement even AFC Sole Striker upfront, Auba should have been sold sentiments apart. I’ll keep noting it, MA doesn’t rate Matinelli’.

    Okay.

    1. Martinelli has genuine potential to be one of the best in the world

      Skill
      Intensity
      Football brain
      Work ethic
      Team player

      World class is thrown around way too much but he can get there! Needs game time

      1. I agree but he’s not looked himself so far this season – I think we need to be patient with him. I worry that his work ethic and immense desire to do well could lead to another Wilshere situation, as I’m not convinced that he knows his limits

  5. like what typical Gunners whiner will always said blame all this on Wenger and Ozil. They are the culprit.

    sigh.

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