According to Goal.com, Thomas Partey will join up with Ghana during the Interlull having initially been left out of their squad for upcoming AFCON qualification games with South Africa and Sao Tome & Principe.
Arsenal won’t allow the midfielder to play against Bafana Bafana in Johannesburg on Thursday because South Africa remains on the UK government’s Covid-19 travel ban ‘red list’ – inbound restrictions from countries deemed high-risk necessitate a mandatory 10-day spell in quarantine – however, he is free to join his international colleagues for their home game on Sunday 28th March.
Assuming the 27-year-old comes through unscathed and tests negative for Covid on his return, he should have plenty of time to recover for the Gunners clash with Liverpool even though the game has been brought forward to Saturday 3rd April.
Elsewhere, Nicolas Pepe will be available for both of Ivory Coast’s matches during the Interlull. He has an away trip to Niger on Friday and then faces Ethiopia in Abidjan on Tuesday 30th March. We’d previously reported he’d only be eligible for one-game. Oops.
Updated list of Interlullers
Called-up: Leno, Runarsson, Tierney, Cedric, Saka, Odegaard, Elneny, Smith Rowe, Xhaka, Nketiah, Partey, Pepe, Aubameyang (non first team – Karl Hein & Daniel Ballard)
At home: Ryan, Bellerin, Gabriel, Holding, Chambers, Mari, David Luiz, Ceballos, Partey, Lacazette, Willian, Nelson, Martinelli
so willian is starting vs liverpool
Ryan, Bellerin, Gabriel, David Luiz, Ceballos, , Lacazette, Willian,, Martinelli
This will be the core team to face Liverpool.
By that logic liverpool will be fielding a youth team plus Trent Alexander
If true not that bad tbf
Seems fair enough. Let’s hope he comes through unscathed and is fully fit for Liverpool where he’ll be needed.
Shame about Bellerin – at one stage was first choice for Spain; never quite the same post acl. With Cedric and Chambers time to move him on in the summer? Reckon Barcelona would be keen!
Love me some Hector but I too feel there is an upgrade out there.
Chambers and Soares have both done well but are firmly in the squad player category.
He’s been linked with a move away for a while, hasn’t he. Whether Barca will be a possible destination given their extreme financial problems currently is still to be seen but if they, or anyone else, scrape up an anywhere near “reasonable” offer (as the market is depressed I wouldn’t expect to get a fortune) then I think he could well leave.
I’m not sure a big, big club is going to be where Hector ends up. Lovely guy and a good player. But he’s not really where he should be for a Barca or a PSG to spend big on him.
I could defo see him at a Napoli or a Dortmund though.
I think he’ll stay. He’s being remoulded currently. And with respect we’re at the same level as Napoli / Dortmund.
Yeah, we’re defo in that category! And I would argue Hector probably isn’t getting out of that upper middle tier of clubs anytime soon.
I dunno, apart from the few players (4 or 5) who are unsellable, I think we have to be open to any offer. And given Hector’s time on the bench this season, he’s probably in the more likely pile for leaving.
Bar Tierney, Saka, ESR, Partey and probably Gabriel, there isn’t a player that I wouldn’t be open to moving on should the right offer come in, if we could use the funds to sign Odegaard.
I would add Martinelli to that list. He’s still kind of unknown, he may make it or he might not. I wouldn’t want him to be one that got away, without a fair shot
He was never first choice for Spain
I think it’s time. It seems he was close to leaving last summer, with Arteta apparently convincing to stay 1 more year. But at this point it doesn’t look like he’ll get back to his pre ACL level, and there still seem to be big clubs interested
I want us to replace him with a new starting RB though. Cedric and Chambers are good backup but think they’re a little limited to be regular starters for a team aiming for top 4. I’d love to see Chambers get a chance at CB though
Hector isn’t a good enough crosser or passer to play in our system and should move on. He doesn’t seem that interested in playing for arsenal anymore to me. Best for all parties I think I wish him well wherever he ends up (or stays)
Yeah his all round technique is pretty average tbh, always was. Very rigid on the ball for a La Masia graduate. But he’s still a really smart player with his off the ball runs and sense of when to accelerate our attacks. His defending is also underrated even if a little too passive sometimes. He went from being legitimately one of the fastest players in the world to just average full back pace after the injury. Realistically, given that he’s not that talented on the ball, he won’t adapt to losing that massive asset and be as effective as before.… Read more »
He certainly ticks several “reasons to sell” boxes. I’m hoping he ticks a similar number of “reasons to buy” boxes as well.
It stands to reason that he would have lost pace after his injury, but has that been borne out by actual speed tests? There was a time when all the players training sprint times were posted online. It would be interesting to see where they all are now, including Auba who looks to have dropped half a yard. It could be they are still quick though, just seem slower when playing poorly.
All this travel is bonkers.
You’re probably right. All clubs with players on international duty are in the same boat so we’ll just have to hope that everyone is properly looked after while away and that they return fit and well.
It really is daft. I’m betting that there will be covid outbreaks in at least one EPL club afterwards and games postponed as a result
What makes Partey such a special player is that he’s both staying and going. He’s able to clone himself. I wish more of our players did that because it’s a great way to beat fatigue.
Either that or Blogs put his name among the players who aren’t called up by mistake. I hope it’s the former.
I see a spin-off sitcom in the making starring Thomas & 4 of his clones: Partey of Five.
Schrödinger’s Partey. Simultaneously called up and at home.
Whatever happened to his cat? (on one side of A4 only.)
Not sure, let me have a look….. ah…. it’s dead.
Odegaard and Tierney will be the biggest concerns – fitness wise – as they are both very likely to play 3×90 minutes in their 3 World Cup Qualifiers. Portugal will play Cancelo right-back however their Dortmund left-back Guerrero is injured so they will either play Cedric left-back or give a debut to an 18 year old called Mendes. So it could be 3×90 for Cedric. Switzerland’s third fixture of this interlull is a friendly so hopefully Xhaka won’t have to play 90 in that one (three days before the Liverpool game). ESR and Saka will possibly get a lot of… Read more »
Won’t Robertson play for Scotland?
Yep; they find a way to fit both Tierney and Robertson into the team.
arse. was hoping KT would get a rest cos of him.
Hard game to give martenelli his first start in a while but still would love to see it happen
So if I understand, Partey can’t travel to and play SA because it is “red zone,” but then he will immediately mix with his team/coaches for the next game who just exited the red zone, thus getting all the secondary exposure…
All this mid-season international travel and bubble mixing is illogical.
One would hope the Ghana contingent would all be tested upon arrival from Joburg into Ghana.
Takes about 3-5 days for anything to show up on the test.
The rapid antigen diagnostic test’s (RADT’s) give results within 60 minutes.
It’s not about the speed of the test results here.
It’s the detectable amount of virus in your body. If you’re infected today, it’s only going to show up in a test in the next 3-5 days once it multiples sufficiently in the body.
Perfect. Was looking to see if someone had stated this.
Normally I’d be concerned that we don’t have a single center-half being called up. I guess it shows our relative lack of top quality (or proven quality) in that area. That being said, they are all staying behind and can work on a few things during the interlull!
FFS
Frozen
And 3 comments become 39 and 3 new posts appear, it’s all very odd?
This international break could be a fantastic break for Martinelli, Gabriel and Chambers in particular, as they will all have the time to get back up to fitness (something each has struggled with this year) and nail the specificities of Arteta’s system to come roaring back in the final third of the year