March 05, (THEWILL) – After an inauspicious start to the season, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed that honest self-reflection has helped Thomas Partey turn his game around in recent weeks.
Since coming to the Emirates Stadium for £45 million in 2020, Partey’s growth has been hampered by injuries and poor performances.
However, in 2022, he appears to have found his feet in North London, having recently helped Arsenal to three Premier League victories in a row by playing every minute.
Partey’s turn around comes after he gave his Arsenal career a 4/10 rating in December, and Arteta commended the midfielder for turning things around ahead of his side’s trip to Watford on Sunday.
The Spanish manager said: “I think when you are honest with yourself it’s a great starting point and when you assess yourself in the way that Thomas did publicly, it’s a really rare thing to do.
“He did it because he believed that was the case, that he wants to give much more to the team and to the club and probably that something has clicked again, probably the fact that he’s been injury-free, it’s a massive thing in there, but as well he’s probably more fit because he’s doing things better.”
Partey, who scored his first goal for Arsenal against Aston Villa earlier this season, had been working on adding more goals to his game on the training ground, according to Arteta.
“He is practising and some of the goals he scores in training you would be amazed!” Arteta said. “You won’t believe me probably, so you will have to see one of those soon going into the net.”
The Emirates faithful have also shown much extra appreciation to the Ghanaian midfielder for his exploits on behalf of the team and his newfound positive combination with Granit Xhaka in the middle of the park. They are, like Arteta, hopeful that this will continue for the rest of the season.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
