Wolves 0-1 Arsenal: 4 positives from Premier League win

4. An Impressive Work Event at No. 10 Downing Street

In an opening to the game where there were players misplacing passes and generally looking off the pace, Thomas Partey stood out as one of the cleaner players on the ball from a technical standpoint.

He’d pick up possession, be willing to turn, move into space, and progress the ball. The Partey we saw in early December time was shot of confidence and miles off his best level, while 2022 has offered a far more exciting and encouraging version of the Ghanaian.

While he might not have impacted the game in an attacking sense as much at Molineux, with him also guilty of some sloppy moments, defensively he was outstanding.

As far as managing the transitions this was one of his tidier games. His feints with and without the ball were superb press releasing moments that stopped Wolves attacks short and kept the pace of Arsenal’s attacks up. He sat the deepest of the midfield two by some distance, but always closed down the spaces and got back into his own box on a few occasions for some vital late interventions.

Between now and May Arsenal will need Partey to dominate central areas more than he did at Molineux. From a defensive perspective, which was near enough his entire remit on Thursday, they couldn’t have asked for much more.