Arsenal: 3 important jobs for Thomas Partey this season

What do Arsenal have to cling onto this season? The acknowledgement of the work done by Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff in September potentially signalling a change in fortunes? The same two academy stars who carried the team last season?

At present it is the current five game unbeaten run in all competitions that is where the hopes lies. There has been an improvement in performances – in the sense that they haven’t been defeats, most of all – and with further ‘winnable’ fixtures to come there is some optimism.

Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Leeds (Carabao Cup), Leicester City, and Watford are next up on the calendar with four of those five matches on home soil. That’s a seriously inviting opportunity to continue putting points on the board to keep in touch with, if not overtake, fellow top six rivals.

Of course, it won’t be easy. Watching the Brighton performance was the timely reminder needed after beating Tottenham that everything wasn’t suddenly rosy. Brighton were missing their two primary central midfielders, among others. Arsenal just didn’t have Granit Xhaka.

3 important jobs for Thomas Partey this season as the Ghanaian midfielder takes centre stage for Arsenal under Arteta following Xhaka’s injury

And they were comfortably second best.

What they did have in the centre of the park was Thomas Partey. Someone who firmly features as one of the hooks for supporters to hang their hats on. He is frighteningly important to this team. Especially with Xhaka out.

So him producing a bizarrely out of character performance on the south coast after a stirring display against Spurs was slightly concerning. Arsenal need him to be brilliant every week. He certainly was not last time out.

But the season is long and as Arsenal look to the closest person they’ve come to replacing a ‘certain someone’ that they have not, and likely never will, replace, what are the tasks laid out before Partey for this season?

Three spring to mind.

1. Be a Leader On and Off the Pitch

The team that started in the 0-0 draw with Brighton had an average age of 24.1. Without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang it was considerably lower.

That’s very young. There were only three players on the pitch over the age of 24: Partey, Kieran Tierney, and the skipper.

With Granit Xhaka not in the frame for the rest of 2021, other members of this squad need to step up and show leadership on and off the pitch. Looking at a Champions League level 28-year-old midfielder, he’s got to be one of them.

He’s surrounded by young players and with Aubameyang not the archetypal ‘leader’ he now must shoulder much of the burden both on the pitch and at the training ground. He has Martin Odegaard alongside him who has demonstrated such qualities but being the calibre of player he is and operating in a crucial area of the pitch, it’s time he stepped up.

It’s not fully known what he’s like at London Colney, whether he is shy or outgoing. In any case, for a member of the starting lineup who is paramount to how Arsenal build their play and protect their backline, now is the time to see Partey be less Gilberto Silva and more Patrick Vieira.

Continued…