Arsenal: 4 talking points from 3-0 AFC Wimbledon win

2. Thomas Partey’s Inclusion Causes Panic

With four days separating Wednesday’s clash and the visit of Tottenham, every supporter gasped at reading a teamsheet not only containing Thomas Partey in the squad, but in the starting lineup. Shouldn’t he have been wrapped up in cotton wool?

It’s an area of the game that supporters worry about far more than players and coaches. The prospect of a professional sportsperson playing more than once a week is deemed an obscene concept.

What the sports/physio science team believe is right for the player is what is usually listened to though. In the case of the Ghanaian, he needs minutes.

Looking shattered after 45 minutes of the Burnley match, nothing will get him more up to speed with the physical demands of playing high intensity football than…actually playing football. Spending a week of training between Turf Moor and the North London Derby without being able to build up that match fitness – nothing prepares players more than competitive matches – wouldn’t have been ideal preparation.

That doesn’t stop everyone worrying, and if he had got an injury there would have been uproar, but now on his way back from the ankle setback he’s had 30, 70 and 60 minutes of playing time. He needed this acclimatisation.

Thankfully all went well. A fit Partey is a firing Partey.

Continued…