Arsenal are a Thomas Partey injury away from collapse – again

Since signing in the summer of 2020, Thomas Partey has demonstrated his immense quality. However, he has also shown an inability to stay fit throughout an entire campaign. He has not proven himself to be dependable, especially after he sustained a thigh injury down the stretch last time out.

The current deputies, Mohamed Elneny and Albert Sambi Lokonga, have found it difficult to fill the Ghanaian’s boots. Elneny’s steady presence and experience provide some stability and calmness, but he lacks the forward-thinking passing precision and ability to weave the play together as Partey does so expertly. Partey’s athleticism in midfield provides so much security to the backline.

But after injury struck him down in the defeat to Crystal Palace in early April, Arsenal lost the following two games to Brighton and Southampton. In the nine games the 29-year-old missed, Arsenal lost four, most notably the painful defeats to Spurs and Newcastle that sealed our top four fate. In Partey’s absence, the midfield was loose and disjointed. The play lacked cohesion and precision. The drop-off in quality was profound.

Arsenal remain a Thomas Partey injury away from collapse

With Arsenal’s swift and effective dealings this summer already, the acquisitions of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko suggest Mikel Arteta viewed the striker and left-back positions as key weak spots that needed reinforcements. Zinchenko’s versatility allows him to be used in midfield too, but his profile and style mean he is not an ideal stand-in for Partey. The same applies to Fabio Vieira, who is a more attacking midfielder.

The conundrum with Partey is that he’s an exceptional player both in terms of screening the midfield, but he is also integral in the way Arteta wants the side to play. Finding a player so strong in both departments will be difficult. Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi, for example, is an impressive, athletic defensive midfielder. His distribution, however, is below the quality of what Arteta will surely be looking for.

Arteta, Edu and the scouts will have their work cut out to find a midfield general of the requisite quality. Having spent £120m already in this window, the club will surely not be willing or able to shelve out an unreasonable amount for the midfielder.

If Arsenal are to push on and finally make the leap into the top four, a capable understudy for Partey will need to be recruited. Otherwise, Arsenal’s aspirations will be in the hands of a player who has been imperilled by injury after injury since joining the club.