Thomas Partey has been excellent for Arsenal in the early weeks of this season and is a crucial piece of Mikel Arteta’s midfield jigsaw. This has been epitomised by the influence of the 29-year-old when he is included in the starting line-up.
Arsenal’s likelihood to win a game increases by a large margin when he is playing compared to when he is absent from kick-off. Since his arrival in 2020, he has been an automatic starter under Arteta
Ahead of the North London Derby, Partey’s presence in the team will be pivotal. However, the nightmare in the same fixture two years ago could prevent Arteta from risking the Ghanaian after his recent injury scares.
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In Arsenal’s last 45 Premier League games, Partey has featured in 28 of them. The Gunners have won 20 matches he has featured in, with Arsenal only winning eight of the 17 matches he has missed.
Arsenal’s win percentage with Partey in the side is 71.4%, but it is only 47% when he is absent. It is because of this that Arteta’s side average 2.2 points per game compared to 1.5 points per game when the Ghanaian is not on the pitch.
If Partey is fit, then he a guaranteed starter and the statistics prove why. But, for the clash against Tottenham on Saturday, his inclusion could be risky as it has already proven in the past.
In the 2020/2021 season, Partey started for Arsenal against Tottenham despite going into the game without having fully recovered from a thigh injury. This backfired on Arteta as the 29-year-old pulled up with the same injury during a Spurs attack, which eventually led to a goal to give Jose Mourinho’s side a 2-0 lead. What made matters worse is that it ruled Partey out for months due to the reoccurring injury.
Ahead of the North London Derby on Saturday, Partey is facing similar injury issues. The Ghanaian was forced to leave national team duty early after picking up a knee injury ahead of their clash with Brazil. Speaking after that news though manager Otto Addo admitted this had been as more of a precautionary measure.
“Hopefully Thomas will be healthy very, very soon,” he said. “We didn’t want to take that risk in a friendly game to play him against Brazil, but surely playing a player like him against a squad like Brazil would have been helpful.”
It is because of Partey’s injury history, that Arteta may be forced to rely on Albert Sambi Lokonga in such a pivotal fixture. The youngster is a player who thrives when he has confidence in his game, but that was unfortunately missing during his difficult spell towards the end of last season.
However, it is not just Arsenal fans who will be having high expectations of him, but also former Manchester City legend Vincent Kompany. The current Anderlecht manager sang his praises for the Belgian midfielder towards the start of last season.
Kompany spoke about Sambi Lokonga’s potential to Rio Ferdinand's Vibe with Five YouTube channel just after the Belgian joined the Gunners for an £18million fee. He said. "When I was still a player for City, I was coming to a point where I was thinking about my future. Management? Carry on? Sign a new deal?
"I was watching football from different countries, different places. And I saw Sambi play his first game - his first two games - then he got an injury to his knee. But the first thing I did when I saw Sambi is I went to Mikel and said, 'You've got to watch this guy, he's the new Yaya Toure.”
The fixture against Spurs is a pivotal match for the Gunners. Arteta certainly will not want to risk a repeat of what happened to Partey in the same fixture two seasons ago, and it is for this reason that Sambi Lokonga could be tasked with returning to the no.6 role.
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