Mikel Arteta has revealed that Thomas Partey could be involved in Arsenal’s clash with Benfica tomorrow night.
The Ghanaian is due to take part in the Gunners training session today and if he comes through unscathed, the boss has confirmed he’ll take the midfielder with him to Athens.
“Thomas is very close and has a final test today in training,” he said on Wednesday morning. “If he’s feeling good he’ll be available.”
Unfortunately, Rob Holding will not make the trip as a result of the concussion he picked up in Sunday’s defeat to Manchester City.
The centre-back was inadvertently knocked on the head by the knee of Joao Cancelo as he slid to make a challenge and required extensive treatment before becoming the first player in Arsenal colours to be replaced using the newly trialled concussion substitutes.
David Luiz, who replaced Holding, looks likely to lineup alongside compatriot Gabriel. The duo faced Benfica last week and were rested at the weekend.
Arteta will probably risk him bcoz if we d
*we dont make through, coach is likely to be sacked.
I’d be really surprise if we sacked him
Fans not being in the stadium has likely saved Arteta
A revolving door of managers doesn’t really help us, we’re a club in transition, transitions take time
Sometimes you need to go backwards, or take a couple of sideways steps, before you can spring forward
There are definitely bits that gave thrown me – his non negotiables, his approach to youth, his substitutions approach, his sticking with Willian and Auba when they haven’t been up to scratch, his seeming overreliance on stats. However, we’re so far away from where we’ve been defensively for YEARS and he has to take full credit for that turnaround. I don’t know how long I give him to fix midfield and attack. I don’t believe we should just be writing blank cheques as he hasn’t (imo) been getting the most out of what he’s got. I have to trust that… Read more »
Agreed, our squad has been in a complete mess for last few years due to mismanagement. Changing managers every 12 or 18 months won’t help. Let’s give MA some time.
Arteta SHOULD risk him. It is our last hope this season. He’s a difference maker. We need him in this game – desperately.
did you watch the north london derby last december
Yes, obviously. I thought that was unwise. But there is so much more riding on this game. And it sounds like he is pretty much there, otherwise he wouldn’t be travelling.
The key word in your post is ‘risk’ – how much of a ‘risk’ is it actually? Arteta has to trust (a) his medical team; ( b) the player’s own words on how he’s feeling and (c) his personal observation of the player in training. On (a) and (b), he has to trust what he is being told – and then use (c) to balance those with a ‘gut feel’. He’s a relatively recently ‘ex’ player, who had his share of injuries, so – apart from possible eagerness/desperation on the Spuds game – we have to believe that he’ll make… Read more »
Innit indeed!!
BTW there is no ‘correct’ point at which to return from a muscle injury. If the tear has repaired and regained strength and flexibility it can still affect surrounding tissue. It usually boils down to the individual player’s history, gut feeling from the medical team and the importance of the fixture.
And if you say tonight is ‘more important’ than a game against Tottenham I would have to seriously question your ‘Arsenal DNA’.
Arteta has to play him alongside Ceballos, stop sandbagging Partey with Xhaka and asking him to be a one man midfield.
Do you even watch arsenal when xhaka partey play? They’re actually a good combination.
He brings out good Xhaka. The way magical fairies in Luiz hair decide if its gonna be a good or bad Luiz day
I agree, Xhaka and Partey have been really good. But against a team that presses really well and is clearly going to defend deep and tactically and play on the counter I’d play Partey and Ceballos here. Ceballos dealt with their press well last time, and obviously Partey is a level up on any other midfielder we have.
Also Xhaka is getting knackered, he’s played EVERY minute for like the last month.
Sounds sensible, but: Benfica will play on the counter, therefore we have to be aware of it. Xhkaka is quite good at closing down spaces and possible moves for the opponent, so I would think he may be better in that regard as Thomas.
Partey on the other hand will do the dynamic midfield part like Ceballos did last week and in doing so will hopefully be even better than Dani.
And if Benfica has to attack at some point (hopefully because we have the lead too) GX can easily slot into a back five
What!? I must disagree here. This is one of Xhaka’s clear weaknesses. Defending in space against counter attacks. Specifically why he struggles in games when teams sit deep, press him, and play of the counter (see the 1st leg – Xhaka has been on his best run of form at Arsenal lately, but that game against Benfica was his poorest showing of late because Benfica’s tactics made life really tough for him).
Also if Benfica have to chase the game. Then you could bring Xhaka on to shore things up and he’d be fresh.
I must agree – the quick counter, killer long pass is what catches Granit out as he’s slow to turn.Particularly if we’re attacking high (as we’ll need to, to get the goal we need).\
I’d even prefer Mo’Nenny with Thomas as he’s very solid on def and more mobile than Xhaka. With Partey on and Luis, Odegaard/ESR, we’re less reliant on Xhaka’s long passing.
I thought you were going to say a good or bad hair day for a second there.
Lol
It’s straightforward stuff. Partey is a world class defensive midfielder who has the capacity to also be good creatively because he is a well rounded footabller. He reads the game well, he has the athleticism and intelligence to take advantage of that defensively and the skill of execution to take advantage of that offensively. Ceballos is a good creative midfielder who has the desire and ability to also contribute significantly defensively. He has the capacity to pick incisive passes, the technical ability to play in a way that creates spontaneity which chances stem from. He isn’t elite at this, that’s… Read more »
Xhaka has played well in recent times. He has his flaws but makes a valuable contribution. Again with the negativity!
He’s played consistently, he hasn’t played notably well. I guess by his usual match-throwing error strewn standards this is a purple patch of form for Xhaka.
I think it’s a pretty well-reasoned and civilly-argued comment? Honest yes, negative… no. You may not agree, but that doesn’t make an opposing view overly negative, surely?
Tough talk – but largely true. Granit has most certainly been better recently but that’s off a very, very low base!
Ah Santi – sweltering in the Emirates when he could have had a swansong season as our 65th min game-breaker maestro!
Breaks my heart.
Yes, Ceballos offers so much more than Xhaka does
But only play Partey if he’s actually fit
Nice, we will be able to sub him on in the second half!! Coyg.
Stop with the negative responses. Jesus can’t we have some good news without the negative nannies coming out.
absolutely correct
so many people ready to comment negative stuff all the time
learn to look at something positive in arsenal football club ffs; the world and football in general have enough negativity and toxicity with covid, racism etc
…and Brexit.
Let it be – as some Indieband put it a while ago … these idiots thrive on being negative. On top of that they get a kick out of annoying us. We could win the CL ten years in a row or have prime Wenger, Pep, Klopp, Ferguson or Heynckes in charge – they will always find something to moan. It´s just the way it is .. as another song goes. Social Media is not helping football at all
Opinions can either be positive or negative. There’s a reason for thumbs up and down button. Preaching about social media literacy and calling random people idiot does not go hand in hand.
The positive police are here to moan at us until we’re all happy
I think with the chance of extra time, I’d be playing him from the start for a definite period of time, say one half.
With 5 subs, I’d say 3 should be planned subs, with Partey-Ceballos, Auba/Laca-Martinelli, and ESR-Odergarrd, with two for injuries.
Hopefully Luiz gets out of the right side of bed Thursday morning, and doesn’t do anything erratic
Benfica were well setup last week, our issue was a lack of penetration from deep areas, hopefully we can find an early goal, then force Benfica to change their shape a bit as the game progresses
We certainly could do with him, but as always it’s a question of judging whether he’s fit enough given his injury record since joining us (but oddly, not previously). All being well, he’ll probably get some playing time tomorrow. It looks increasingly like we’re having to gamble everything on the EL as the route to getting European football – and the financial boost it brings – next season. It would be great to turn in performance of the kind Chelsea did last night in the CL (if only we still had Giroud?) but that’s something we can only dream of… Read more »
To all those who thumbed me red for my come-back HFB comment yesterday, go and watch his bike-kick!!
After the first leg, I’m certain we have enough to dispose of Benfica without the need to risk Partey from the start. If all goes well, I’d give him 15 minutes off the bench (when we’re already 3-0 up) – just to get up to match speed, and in preparation for tearing Leicester a new one!
This sort of arrogance is why we lose to shitty teams. Benfica lack quality, but they are full of hard workers and they are really well coached (as shown in the previous game), their team press is really good. That sort of tactical pressing is something we don’t deal well with. Arteta better prepare this team properly and strategically for this game. I’m glad to see he is treating it like a cup final.
IMO Partey needs to play. Take them lightly and we’ll find ourselves with a top-half challenge left on the season.
Despite being timid and unadventurous in the first leg, we still outplayed them and had virtually all of the scoring opportunities – albeit with an inability to put them away. It’s not arrogance to suggest that if we go for it – even without Partey – we have a far stronger squad than them.
Well, that’s what I call confidence. You may be right (funny old game, and all that) but I’m wondering what you’re basing it on? Not the performance in the first leg surely. We have a small advantage with the “away” goal but I wouldn’t say that performance suggested we’d dispose of Benfica this time around in the way you seem to think. If I had to guess, and it’s all guesswork, I’d say it will be another tight game but we’ll just shade it, possibly 1:0. That goes out the window if we do a “City” or a “Villa” and… Read more »
I felt the first leg was disappointing because we afforded them too much respect and didn’t really ‘go for them’. Much as I understand this mentality in the first half, I believe we could have been asking more questions of them in the second, once we’d sussed them out. If we have a positive mind-set from the outset on Thursday, I’m confident that we can open them up. Hopefully, this time we’ll put a few of the opportunities away.
Counter-intuitive comment – Partey is the player we need to GET those 3 goals, not protect them! Start him, use his cutting-edge to feed our strikers and sub him after our 2nd goal (positively visualising here, lads!)
People point to his injury record before Arsenal.
but playing in warmer climates vs farmers for 8-10 games a season surely helps?
I know the quality isn’t THAT bad at the bottom of la Liga but you get the point, you can play your 3rd choice cm for these games.
That may be true, but that logic suggests it may not bode well for Partey simply because he isn’t playing against “agricultural” sides in the PL. He is going to get the same “treatment” week in and out without a whiff of hay or the farmyard, and so far at least he isn’t standing up to it very well. The question is what’s going to change, as it’s not going to be the opposition here? He could just “toughen up” I guess, let’s hope so if that’s the solution.
Xhaka Ceballos should be enough to get the job done. Give Partey 45 mins for Ceballos if we need it, otherwise play it safe.
We’re only 6 points off 6th place. Plenty of time left to claw that back but we need Partey fit the rest of the season.
Totally agree with you Eddy.
6pts with 8-10 teams legitimately vying for those places. Probabilistically alone, us reaching that position is not a likely scenario.
If Partey is fit, he has to play. With the way our season has panned out, this is our priority now, the EL.
Our best 11 players should play.
Can’t believe how little we’ve got to see of this guy. Such a great addition, just a shame his first season has been so blighted. Think we’d actually be in a pretty good place if we were able to play all of our best players consistently. Add a few more in key positions over the summer and have another crack at it. Future is bright!
I am not from anywhere in Europe, so I ask honestly and not with any intention to be sarcastic or offensive. Is it really safe for travel? I get that the changes were made (home, away and all that bs), but last year this was exactly the place where the virus entered the team (Arteta being the first patient). How much has the situation changed? If there are Greek Gooners here, is there reason to be apprehensive?
I understand that the same applied to Italy as well, and Blogs addressed this I think, but there’s not much news about Greece in general