Arsenal’s perfect Thomas Partey missing just one component

On a night the Emirates Stadium hasn’t paid witness to for many years, Arsenal came up clutch with a victory that has an unquantifiable mental impact on the team as much as it does on the rest of the Premier League.

Having bellowed out a glorious rendition of ‘Saka and Emile Smith Rowe’ in the previous home encounter with Brentford, this time it was others who heeded Arsenal’s call when the team was most in need.

Martin Odegaard continues to dazzle. We look at this team and revel in the idea of how much more improved the individuals can get as much as the collective. Yet it’s growing increasingly difficult to envisage a level higher than the one the Norwegian is sustaining.

Across the field there were performances to savour. None, however, shone brighter than Thomas Partey. The technical craft and wonderfully weighted elegance of Odegaard has woken people up to his splendour, but Partey was the anchor of a ship whose course is firmly directed towards the top four.

Arsenal vs Wolves: Perfect Thomas Partey missing just one component – but for the first time in his career his shooting doesn’t matter

He was magnificent.

David Silva graced the Premier League with his diminutive serenity for years, yet even he would be envious of the feints this Ghanaian powerhouse produces. How he doesn’t dislocate a shoulder every time he sends an opponent for hot dog beggars belief.

There is a divine grace to how he patrolled the pitch on Thursday. Shifting to a system that holds a 4-3-3 shape more than any other has changed Partey’s role. It’s bestowed him with heightened responsibility and more ground to cover. He’s owning it.

Being fielded as the certified No. 6 means he has to be constantly looking in his wing mirrors. The space behind needs scanning and the passes in front need executing. Already well versed in the art of defensive awareness, the degree of technical influence placed on his shoulders is considerable. He has to be able to weave his way out of tight spaces just as there is onus on him to distribute through gaps centrally and recycle possession into wide areas.

With a crispness to his touches and a belligerence to his physicality, he was near enough perfect against Wolves. It didn’t look like he’d be able to handle this role earlier in the season, but he’s grown into in tandem with his teammates and their respective roles.

It’s all missing one component. One that has been a source of exasperation through much of his Arsenal career: his shooting.

But, you know what, that final component suddenly has less bearing on the overall evaluation of him. When he can dominate matches centrally as he does – with the aid of Granit Xhaka, it must be mentioned – those inadequacies grow increasingly inconsequential.

His shooting is lacking. It’s majorly dreadful. Yet this is the closest it has ever come to being a non-issue. One day, whenever that may be, one of his piledrivers from range or attempted bending efforts from the edge of the box will nestle in the back of the net.

Until then, if he exudes the dictatorial control he has on the midfield then we won’t concern ourselves with it. Because, he was near enough perfect against Wolves.