Thomas Partey made his first start of the season on Saturday, helping Arsenal beat Burnley, but with Tottenham to come on Sunday, he was still in the XI for the cup tie with AFC Wimbledon.
Thomas Partey expressed his desire to start Arsenal’s Carabao Cup clash with AFC Wimbledon, according to reports. After a disappointing start to the season, the Ghanaian international suffered a bad ankle injury in preseason that kept him out of action for the first month.
Partey made his debut in the new campaign against Norwich City. He was on the bench during the victory over Norwich City. Seven days later, Mikel Arteta opted to start Partey in the center of Arsenal’s midfield as they made it back-to-back 1-0 wins in the Premier League, beating Burnley at Turf Moor.
He was forced to withdraw against the Clarets because of cramps. However, he is slowly improving his match fitness. It was therefore a huge surprise to see the former Atletico Madrid man in the starting XI for the cup game against the Dons.
Many people expected him to be absent in midweek while he focuses on the Tottenham North London derby on Sunday. Although Partey was not asked to participate in the decision to start him, there was much condemnation online.
After such a stop-start period, he is desperate to fine-tune his fitness, particularly with that huge clash against Spurs on the horizon. Arteta was proud of Arteta’s performance at Turf Moor. He deployed him in a deeper, more defensive midfield role to anchor an otherwise young side.
“He’s really important because he is the anchor,” Arteta spoke out. Arteta said, “He is the one who needs to understand what is happening and make it better. That’s his biggest job, to get the right balance in the team and get the right fluidity in the team so we can attack.”
“His ability to manage the transitions was outstanding. He is a great leader with the pressing and the charisma. However, he did struggle in the end. Because he was cramping, he couldn’t finish the game. But it will all come back. He missed a long time but now he’s back again and he needs some more fitness back.”
Partey managed to score another 60 minutes ahead of Spurs. Partey was then taken off at the hour mark. This clearly shows that there is a plan between the manager and the player.