#PL Stories – #MikelArteta does not want to make #ThomasPartey injury mistake again #ArsenalFC

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. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon8Cancel 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. But now football.london understands that Partey is likely to miss both of the Gunners' Europa League ties against Benfica as well as this weekend's match with a hamstring injury. The news is yet another injury setback for Partey who has had a stop-start beginning to his Arsenal career since arriving from Atletico Madrid on transfer deadline day in October. The 28-year-old initially sustained a thigh strain against Aston Villa in the Gunners' home game against them back in November which ruled him out for around a month. He was then rushed back to be fit in time to play in the North London Derby at the start of December only to worsen the original injury and rule himself out for a further six weeks. "Hopefully we're going to see Thomas back in and play at the level that he can do," said Arteta. "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." Since then 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. Thomas Partey (centre) faces another spell on the sidelines through injury. (Image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images). “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,” he said. “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. Sign up to our Arsenal newsletter for the latest transfer news By signing up for our Arsenal newsletter, you will receive a once-daily email, focused around goings-on at Emirates Stadium. You won't miss a thing when it comes to the Gunners - you'll get all you need to know directly into your inbox. We'll also send out special newsletters with any big breaking news too. And with the January transfer window now open there's plenty of content to get your teeth into. How do you sign up? It's easy and only takes seconds. Simply type your email address into the box at the top of this article - or any article on the Arsenal section of football.london in fact - labelled 'Get the biggest daily stories by email' and click 'Subscribe'. And that's it, you're all set. If you decide later that you no longer wish to receive the emails, simply follow the unsubscribe link in one of the newsletters - but we don't think you'll want to. For more details, click here. Mikel Arteta also has Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny as midfield options to come in, while Dani Ceballos has made his return from injury. One player the Arsenal boss won't have available to him though is Kieran Tierney after the club confirmed the left back will be absent again this weekend. The Gunners are however, hopeful to have the Scotland international back in full training next week.