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.
His influence was proven with an excellent goal against Tottenham in the North London Derby on Saturday. His strike in the first half gave Arsenal the lead as the Gunners went on to win the match 3-1 which has kept Arteta’s side at the top of the table.
The performance from Partey was certainly a redemption display for this fixture two years ago as he and Arteta were at fault when the Gunners had lost 2-0, but this has now been overturned after the most recent victory.
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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 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.”
Despite the injury risk, and the nightmare of two seasons ago, Arteta still decide to start the Ghanaian against Spurs and it certainly paid off. Partey’s strike from outside the box was his first goal from outside 18-yards for Arsenal in 65 attempts/
In Arsenal’s last 46 Premier League games, Partey has featured in 29 of them. The Gunners have won 21 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.
The importance for Partey to play in such a crucial fixture was proven by his excellent statistics, and the player alongside Arteta have achieved redemption as a result of the Gunners boss' bold decision.
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