It looks as though Thomas Partey will be in contention for Tuesday night’s match at Nottingham Forest after returning to full training.
The midfielder has barely featured for the Gunners this season due to a groin injury suffered in September and a serious hamstring issue picked up in training in the aftermath of October’s Interlull.
Partey has only made five appearances this season with the last coming as a late substitute in October’s 1-0 win over Manchester City. He had been pencilled in for a return to action at the end of 2023 but suffered a couple of setbacks in his recovery which subsequently cost him a place in Ghana’s squad for the African Cup of Nations.
If he’s able to stay fit for the rest of the campaign, he could be a useful option for Mikel Arteta. As an experienced midfield anchor, his presence would allow the manager to redeploy Declan Rice further up the pitch.
Whether Partey has a future at Arsenal beyond this campaign remains to be seen. His current deal ends in 2025 and we’ll likely want to recoup some of the €50 million we paid for him in 2020.
That said, we struggled to find a buyer last summer and his latest fitness issues aren’t going to help our cause.
Maybe not for every match, but a Partey, Rice, Odegaard midfield creates lots of possibilities. And just Partey, certainly when he is match fit, makes the whole right side attack quicker and more fluid. Ben White, Odegaard, and Saka will be the beneficiaries.
As a fan I’ll be a beneficiary too. You know that move in a tight spot where he pretends to play a pass, kicks the ground and immediately goes on a swift run with the ball through the middle? It slays me every time. Haven’t enjoyed such an individual trademark stunt since Vieira flicking the ball over an opponent and using his big frame to keep it and bully his way forwards
Yep! Like a new signing too!
Partey when fit and flying is just top class and would be a significant boost in the spring, fingers crossed!
But just remember he is one of them players who take a while to get back into the swing of things. But when he gets going he great to watch!
He won’t stay fit though mate. Arsenal don’t send someone with him on international duty because of the national teams training staff, it’s because Partey is not professional.
Good news as long as he’s not shoe-horned in at right back!
Upvote just for the name.
The role he played wasn’t really a RB though was it
You can argue the technicalities all you want…but we all know what the poster wss referring to. And he’s right. It was a shit experiment, please let’s not go there ever again.
What bad luck for us and for him. A fully fit Partey is really a world class midfielder. Better than Rice in my opinion. Let’s hope he heals well and scores another screamer against Spurs
I probably shouldn’t put all my eggs in the amalgamation of sawdust, crisp packets and torn ligaments that is the Thomas Partey basket…but F*** it, we’re going to cook!
If he stays fit – and it’s Everest-sized IF – this is a very, very tasty potential midfield trio: Partey, Rice, Odegaard. A mouthwatering prospect over the next few months, but not one I am holding my breath for.
I’d rather celebrate his return to fitness for the sake of Arsenal’s good second part of season rather than bemoan lac of buyer last summer and contemplating his potential departure next summer. GOODNESS ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am really glad he’s back, but he needs to be moved on and replaced at the end of the season.
Is it sad? Sure.
Do we want a player, in a key position, that isn’t constantly injured? Definitely.
A real boost if he stays fit. Top quality player. With the acquisition of Rice I think we have forgotten just how vital he was for our brilliant 22-23 campaign.
Up until he’s form fell off a cliff at the business end. This, not Saliba’s injury, was the main reason for our painful demise in the run in…. Time to amend matters this year Tommy, COYG
Yes. But no. Then yes again.
Fingers, toes the whole lot crossed.. since he got here he’s given us 3/4 incredible months a season. If he can give us a great 2nd half of a season we could do something special.
Partey played 35 out of 38 premier leagues and 90 minutes for 90% of those games. He was over used. That’s poor man management from his manager.
His absence for the last few matches causing the team collapse from the midfield shows he’s almost the most important Arsenal player. Our twin towers of Saliba and Gabriel surely miss him!
I’m drooling thinking of a Rice, Partey, Martin trio. Perfectly balanced midfield, such a shame we’ve seen them together so little.
This is good news as long as we take full advantage of the two or three weeks he remains fit.
Sorry, but the sooner we move him on and bring in a reliable and FIT midfielder the better because at 31 he is not going to improve in that respect.
He’s 30 until he turns 31
Yup, that’s the way it works.
How do you know how to predict accurately the period a player can remain fit?
TP can be fit until end of season. On the other hands, if he is unlucky, he can go straight back to treatment table in his first game after injury.
These things happen in football and we just have to accept it and adapt.
Absolutely. Think van Persie and his constant injuries and then out of the blue he stays fit the whole season. Partey is a tremendous player. He was major reason for last seasons brilliant performances. He is risky as the holding midfielder as he takes far more chances than rice does but with saliba and Gabriel behind him it went somewhat unnoticed until saliba got injured and he had rob holding behind him and had far too much to do.
100% right. And sadly Tomi seems to be cursed too 3 or 4 good/great games then injured for a couple of months
i bet we’ll sell him to an italian side for which he’ll play until he’s 43 years old, not missing a single day due to injury nor coughing even once
His groins and hamstrings are already 43
LANS!
Great to see him back, hopefully he plays an injury free season from now on, gonna take 3 to 4 games for him to get up to speed but a Partey/Dec is a good mid, Vieira is likely 2 weeks, Tomi also from Asia cup, squad looking stronger..
Is it just me or does anyone else feel we are the ones usually concerned about teams who are after our players getting a good deal? We want Petro Neto (who is good but injury prone ) , I don’t imagine wolves are going to knock 20m of his asking price because they think he’s prone to injuries. Our record of selling players to other clubs is a disgrace and I think we have built a reputation as a club where players can be got for next to nothing
Why would it be any other way? Big clubs pay more and receive less, often having to subsidise wage cuts for departing players via cut price deals. Partey is the wrong side of 30 and on top of a high salary has had injury issues – we’re not in a strong position if we wish to sell him. Wolves on the other hand can effectively name their price for Neto and like Brighton with Caicedo a year ago they don’t have to compromise when we are looking for a player they want to keep.
A last hurrah. Give us a spectacular 1/2 a season, PL winners medal and then, with all due respect, probably time for us to shuffle you out the door.
Arteta will probably play him at right back, bench Gabriel and move Ben white to CB. I mean, what was that all about at the beginning of the season.
Then Partey will of course get injured again.
A fit, firing TP is a GREAT (not just good) option.
Given how little Partey has played in midfield this season, we’ve essentially swapped out Partey for Rice and Xhaka for Havertz compared to last year. Rice is great and Havertz has a couple of strengths, but both are clearly worse at progressive passing than their predecessors. Arteta has addressed this by pushing Havertz further forward than Xhaka played and bringing Odegaard deeper than last year, but Odegaard doesn’t seem particularly suited to that at this point in his career and his output has dropped in the final third as a result. Instead we have Havertz slowing the play down and… Read more »