Thomas Partey looked set to be absent from the Arsenal squad for some time due to the midfielder’s involvement with Ghana at the African Cup of Nations. However, football has its funny ways of working.
The African giants suffered a shock loss to the island nation of Comoros in their final match of the group stage, eliminating Ghana from AFCON and creating history for the country ranked 132nd in the FIFA World Rankings.
Comoros are competing in their first-ever AFCON, and their shock win against Ghana, who have won the competition four times, was one of the biggest in the tournament so far.
Indeed, the news sent shockwaves around the world of football. Yet for Arsenal fans, Ghana’s early elimination meant that Partey could be back for the Gunners much earlier than expected.
The 28-year-old midfielder had a Man of the Match performance against Manchester City in Partey’s final game for Arsenal before flying off to Cameroon.
However, despite fears that Partey would miss up multiple Premier League games, the midfielder could well be back for Arsenal this Sunday to face Burnley at the Emirates Stadium.
Indeed, the former Atletico Madrid star has so far missed just two games for the Gunners, an FA Cup loss to Nottingham Forest as well as a League Cup draw against Liverpool at Anfield.
Arsenal fans are stunned as Partey is set for early AFCON return
As you can expect, having Partey back already is massive for Arsenal. Even more so given the lack of midfielders the club currently have in the senior team.
And on social media, Arsenal fans are amazed that Ghana have already been knocked out of AFCON, with Partey now likely to return to action for the Gunners this week.
Here’s what some fans had to say on Twitter about Ghana’s shock group-stage exit to Comoros…
https://twitter.com/1NilArsenal/status/1483670428237574147
https://twitter.com/LShadrack2/status/1483669578957918208
https://twitter.com/Ot_Silz/status/1483591339912671247
https://twitter.com/AfcAli_A/status/1483580747483160579
https://twitter.com/abrmohamoud/status/1483575413007949828
https://twitter.com/Bon_Ace2/status/1483571715800281095
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