Mikel Arteta is confident that Thomas Partey will “return to the level he can do” and admits the 27-year-old is “anxious” to leave his mark on the Arsenal team. The Ghanaian international limped off during the Gunners’ 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday and initially complained of pain in his thigh area.
Mikel Arteta said “Hopefully we’re going to see Thomas back in and play at the level that he can do. Last time we give him more time to recover, then after the second injury and he came back in good shape, but he wasn’t fit enough to sustain that for 90 minutes. So I’ve been trying to protect him. I think he’s played 90 minutes only once since coming back from injury. And now, again, we have to protect him and make sure that he’s fit and and ready to come back as soon as possible. But knowing that we need to play long term as well.”
Arsenal have been very careful not to risk his fitness, withdrawing him early in games against Newcastle and Southampton. But it seems as though the precautions weren’t enough, with the Ghanaian now set to miss up to a further two weeks of action for Arteta’s side.
Mikel Arteta said “Now we have to protect him, make sure that he is fit and ready to come back as soon as possible – but knowing that we need the player long term as well. He knows how much he cost and that adds a bit of pressure. When you are not able to play you want to hurry up and do everything quicker, and show everybody how good you are and have a big impact on the team. That creates some anxiety for sure. Then the physical aspect, when you look at the outputs he needs to put in when he was playing in Spain or now, are pretty different.”
In his absence the Gunners could give a full debut to Martin Odegaard against Leeds on Sunday. Mikel Arteta also has Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny as midfield options to come in, while Dani Ceballos has made his return from injury. Arsenal had initially been optimistic about the midfielder’s fitness with some reports suggesting he could be back in time to face Leeds United in the Premier League on Sunday.
