Jamie Carragher has criticised Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey after his performance in the 2-2 draw at West Ham United.
Carragher was speaking to Sky Sports (16/04, 2:40pm) after Partey suffered a difficult few minutes.
Partey made a big mistake with Arsenal leading 2-0 as he was caught in possession just outside his own penalty area.
Declan Rice robbed him of possession, found Lucas Paqueta and Gabriel Magalhaes brought down his fellow Brazilian.
Said Benrahma scored from the spot and started West Ham’s fightback with Jarrod Bowen eventually bagging the leveller.
Just seconds later, Partey lost the ball again and fouled Benrahma on the counter-attack, picking up a yellow card.
Partey then bizarrely sent a pass straight out of play, nowhere really near an Arsenal teammate.
That sparked Carragher into commenting on the midfielder, stating that this was the worst performance he has ever seen from the Arsenal man.
Carragher did note that Partey has been fantastic all season for the Gunners but he was completely off his game against West Ham.
“Thomas Partey has been fantastic this season for Arsenal but this is the worst I’ve seen him play,” said Carragher. “He’s just not at the races at all,” he added.
Thomas Partey must step up for Arsenal
Gunners fans have been raving about Partey this season but Sunday was a nightmare showing.
A couple of draws may not seem like the end of the world but Arsenal may just be wobbling.
That’s twice in a row that Arsenal have been 2-0 up and ended up failing to win with Manchester City right on their tails.
This is where Arsenal need their proven players to step up and make sure Mikel Arteta’s men stay on course.
Partey is one of them; the Ghanaian won a league title with Atletico Madrid in 2021 and needs to use that experience to help Arsenal through the coming weeks.
Others like Kieran Tierney, Jorginho, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus have experience of winning trophies and will be needed just as much as Partey.
Maybe this was just an off day for Partey but Arsenal cannot afford to see many more of these displays in the coming weeks.
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