Mikel Arteta has told Football London that Thomas Partey will ‘miss the next few matches’ for Arsenal after what he described as ‘unpredictable actions’ over the weekend.
Partey previously suffered a thigh injury and the Arsenal boss told his press conference that his summer signing got injured in the ‘same area’ but it’s not ‘exactly the same spot’ against Spurs on Sunday.
All of this stems from Arsenal’s defeat to their North London rivals – a game in which Partey started after a mini lay-off and left those questioning whether or not he should have been rushed back.
But when Arteta was sharing the bad news to fans, he insisted that they tested Partey as much as possible leading up to the Tottenham game and stated how sometimes you can have ‘unpredictable actions’ in football.
“He got injured in the same area, not exactly the same spot but the same area as before. He will miss the next few matches,” said Arteta.
“He did incredibly well and he was very confident. We tested him three times and he had zero symptoms, but in football, you have a lot of unpredictable actions.
“He went into the floor, his knee got stuck, afterwards he stretched and got up. Immediately he put a lot of stress in a similar area and it happened. Afterwards, people will say it was a bit early, but I don’t think it was because he was completely fine to play.”
This is the last thing Arsenal need in their season because even though Partey has only been available for a few games, he has been one of their better players.
Wins and performances are needed from Arsenal, more so in the Premier League and they are going to be even tougher without their midfield aggressor.
But this is where Arteta is paid the big bucks because he does need to get the best out of a certain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose performances have hit a brick wall in recent months.
If he can start his engine then Arsenal as a whole will start to climb the table.
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