There was a huge amount of excitement in the air as Arsenal announced the £42.5million signing of Thomas Partey on transfer deadline day back in October 2020.
The Gunners had been missing an all-action midfielder to help Granit Xhaka in the middle of the park and bringing in one of La Liga's best had supporters purring following months of speculation surrounding the Ghanaian's future at Atletico Madrid.
However, his first season in the Premier League was a rollercoaster one, to say the least. Despite flashes of brilliance, including a man-of-the-match display during a 1-0 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford, the 28-year-old struggled for fitness and looked off the pace in a number of outings.
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Partey would sometimes look lost in transition and was frequently giving the ball away carelessly, a far cry from the Rolls-Royce of a player that bossed Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool over two legs in the last 16 of their 2019/20 Champions League encounter.
The experienced maestro began to look a bit more settled in the first part of this season before disappointing displays during back-to-back defeats against United and Everton and he admitted he was his biggest critic after the loss against the former.
"I give myself four [out of 10] because there are moments I can really hurt the other team but there are also moments where I allow myself to lose focus and that's when everything goes down," he told Sky Sports News in December when asked to assess his time at the Emirates Stadium so far. "This is when you realise that you have to get better."
Fast forward just three months and Partey has started to look like his former self, performing excellently in each of his last ten league outings, a run of games that has coincided with Arsenal winning nine of their last 11 in the English top-flight - something that is most certainly not a coincidence.
In recent weeks, Mikel Arteta has deployed the talented midfielder in a deeper role, adopting a 4-3-3 system that utilised Xhaka and Martin Odegaard ahead of Partey, who is playing like a no.6, similar to how Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola uses Rodri, who played alongside Partey at Atletico.
Partey now assumes a position just ahead of centre-back pairing Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes, tasked with breaking the lines to find Odegaard and Xhaka in advanced areas, making the Gunners much more dangerous and leading to a higher volume of chances created.
Xhaka had often tucked in as an unorthodox left-back in possession to allow Kieran Tierney to roam down the left flank, something that was originally successful before it made the north London outfit too predictable over time.
The 28-year-old is composed on the ball and when opposition players opt to press him, it frees up the 'roaming no.8s', who he can often find with ease considering his rare blend of skilful passing, intelligent movement and press-resistant dribbling. Above he is seen attracting four Wolves players to the ball, freeing up space in the pockets for Xhaka, Odegaard and Alexandre Lacazette.
Partey also never shies away from a risky pass, evidenced by his impressive 5.83 progressive passes and 5.07 passes into the final third per game. Here he has an easy option to pass to Odegaard when under pressure but instead shifts his body and finds Lacazette in between the lines, progressing the ball into a more dangerous area.
His all-around game was on display during Sunday's 2-0 victory over Leicester City, registering two interceptions, four tackles, winning six out of six duels, whilst also scoring the opener from a first-half corner. These types of performances haven't gone unnoticed either, as he picked up the club's player of the month award for February after three excellent displays, particularly home and away against Wolves.
As previously mentioned, when Partey is on top form, his teammates excel. Much of this can be credited to Arteta's change to the aforementioned 4-3-3.
In fact, Arsenal have improved offensively and defensively since the change in tactics. As per Understat, they have registered 1.9 xG (expected goals) per game since the switch to 4-3-3, compared to 1.6xG per match before that, albeit the sample size is much larger.
Comparatively, they have conceded 0.8 xG (expected goals against) with the new system, a figure that was 1.4 previously.
