Arsenal: True extent of Thomas Partey injury revealed

Arsenal confirmed on Thursday that Thomas Partey will be unavailable for the Premier League clash with Leeds United, however, the full extent of his injury woes are worse than initially feared.

A season-defining set of fixtures await Arsenal in the coming two weeks – as if the season’s outlook wasn’t already defined as it is – as Leeds is followed by both legs of Arsenal’s round of 32 Europa League tie with Benfica that sandwich a home tie with Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta’s side are frighteningly off the pace in the top-flight, languishing in 11th spot with more defeats than wins under the belts and facing the prospect of Europa League or bust in their pursuit of European football.

With injuries to key players doing them no favours, the hopeful updates on Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney have offered nothing but further anguish.

Thomas Partey injury extent revealed as Arsenal update requires clarity

The Scot has missed the last four Premier League matches and will sit out of Sunday’s clash, with even the first leg of their Benfica tie in Rome an unlikely prospect as he will only resume training by ‘next week’.

As for Partey, he too will miss Sunday and will ‘continue to be assessed and rehabilitate from this injury’. However, Chris Wheatley has aimed to add clarity to the vagueness of the club’s statement and given a full timeline of his expected return.

"He said: “Thomas Partey will rest and rehab for close to two weeks before returning to the team.”"

Set to not be involved in training for another ten to 14 days, it makes it touch and go for him to be involved in the return leg of the Europa League tie on February 25. As such, he looks set to miss Leeds, both ties with Benfica and Manchester City. Arsenal do hope, however, this will be sooner.

There is no sugar-coating the news. It’s wounding. While Tierney’s situation is distinctly brighter, the continuing issues facing Partey aren’t dissipating. The barrage of matches and reduced recovery time has seen soft tissue injuries up by 15% across the Premier League this season, although Partey has only completed 90 minutes consecutively once this season.

His first injury has been gradually added to by improper recovery time. These injuries are prevalent across the division, but questions must be asked of how Arsenal’s medical team are evaluating muscle strain injuries.