Arsenal have already had two problems from the international break, with both Mo Elneny and Sead Kolasinac ruled out of Sunday’s game at Leeds due to being tested positive for coronavirus, but now we have been devastated by the news that Thomas Partey will also be unavailable after sustaining a thigh strain during our infamous defeat against Aston Villa.
The Arsenal official site doesn’t give any indication of how long Partey’s rehabilitation is going to take, so he culd be out much longer than we expected.
So it is now looking like we will be returning to seeing Xhaka and Ceballos return as our midfield pairing, which is a shame as many of us were thinking that Elneny and Partey were going to be first choice after their excellent display against Man United.
One bit of good news is that Pablo Mari is now rejoining group training and we may finally have another central defender for Mikel Arteta to choose from in the near future.
Another little boost is that Gabriel Martinelli will also be back in contention very soon, as the latest report from Arsenal says: “Gabi has also progressed very well is working well in group sessions and aims to integrate into squad sessions over the next two weeks.”
All I can say is that I hope Ceballos and Xhaka will be enough against Leeds, but I think we are going to want Partey to get back to fitness as quick as possible as we have even tougher tests ahead..