Arsenal: 4 massive selection decisions vs Everton

2. Time to Drop Thomas Partey?

Thomas Partey was awful in that first half. Absolutely dreadful.

When there are elements to his game that are so enjoyable like how nimble he can be with the ball in the air to nip possession off a player and charge with the ball, seeing him then give away a five yard pass kills all of that.

His head was not in the right place and despite having a ‘fine’ performance from a statistical standpoint, there is no brushing over how disappointing he was on the night.

Waiting in the wings is Ainsley Maitland-Niles who will be seeing that level of performance and licking his lips and the prospect of getting the nod. Arteta has to start demanding more from his senior players and on the basis of meritocracy there has to come a point where Partey starts realising his place in the side is not a certainty.

On the topic of whether he will be dropped or not, you get the feeling that his second half performance will spare him the chop.

Vastly improved after the break (albeit nearly impossible to be much worse) there was far less tentativeness in his game and he crisped up his passing. Still lazy in tracking Ronaldo for the second goal and nonetheless way off where he needs to be, he could just have prevented his removal from the side.

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