Arteta Must Re-Think Loyalty to £200k-p/w Arsenal Man After ‘Worrying’ Display

Arsenal’s Champions League campaign began in uninspiring fashion, as Mikel Arteta’s side played out a scoreless draw with Atalanta in Bergamo, with Thomas Partey producing a ‘stinker’ in midfield for the Gunners.

The Premier League side were disjointed in their offensive play, while remaining solid in their defensive work, in what was a bleak affair in both sides’ first appearance in the inaugural League Phase of the continental competition. The game’s headline moment saw Partey tug back Atalanta midfielder Ederson shortly after half-time as he ran into the box, with the home side awarded a spot-kick for the offence.

Mateo Retegui stepped up, and saw his penalty and follow-up effort both expertly saved by David Raya. The result leaves Arsenal 17th in the Champions League table, with home games against Paris Saint-Germain and Shakhtar Donetsk to come in their next two fixtures.

A staple of Arteta’s midfield thus far this season, Partey struggled with the intensity of the night and the stats certainly don’t make for pretty reading for the Ghanaian. The former Atletico Madrid man put in a forgettable performance in Northern Italy.

Partey Struggled Against Atalanta

He completed just 79% of his passes

Having completed 90 minutes in all four of Arsenal’s Premier League matches this season, Arteta has evidently placed his faith in Partey and determined that he’s above Jorginho in the pecking order at the Emirates. However, with City to come in an early-season title showdown on Sunday, and having played in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over Tottenham last weekend, perhaps tonight’s game against Atalanta would’ve been an ideal place for Arteta to rest the deep-lying playmaker.

Unfortunately for the Spanish tactician, the absences of Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino meant he probably felt such rotation was implausible.

With a 6.3 SofaScore rating, Partey was the worst-performing player for Arsenal on the night, aside from Gabriel Martinelli. Hooked just 13 minutes into the second half, when it was clear Arsenal were losing their grip on the game, the 31-year-old struggled in possession, failing to cope with being the obvious target for Atalanta’s pressing.

Completing just 79% of his passes, the Ghana international was loose on the ball, and responsible for several poor give-aways that derailed potential Arsenal attacks and left the North Londoners exposed in transition. This was reflected in him losing possession eight times in just under an hour on the pitch, more than Jurrien Timber, Declan Rice, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, all of whom played 90 minutes – aside from Timber.

Managing just one tackle and no interceptions, whilst contributing little in the final third, with zero key passes and one shot, it was an underwhelming display from the player in all facets of the game. Writing on X, Arsenal journalist Kaya Kaynak described Partey’s performance as ‘worrying’.

Arteta Must Consider 5/10 Partey’s Place in the Team

Jorginho is available

Such was the dreadful nature of Partey’s outing at the Gewiss Stadium, journalist Kaynak gave the player a rating of five out of ten in his player ratings for the encounter, and described the display as a ‘stinker’:

If Raya hadn’t produced his spectacular heroics, the heat on Partey’s performance may well have been more intense after this game. The midfielder looked completely off the pace, and serious question marks ought to be raised about him retaining his place in the side, particularly ahead of the trip to the Etihad.

Arteta has Jorginho on the sidelines, with the Italian impressing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, and making a marginal impact on tonight’s proceedings. While the former Arsenal captain’s general reluctance to change his team drastically game-to-game means Partey losing his place as imminently as the City game appears unlikely, it’s not out the realms of possibility that another negative display in the north-west could cost him his place in the side – and going forward, the Spaniard must consider just how much he wants to rely upon the 31-year-old.

With this brutal week concluding with the visit to the Champions, the fixture schedule does ease up for the Gunners in the coming weeks, with home games against Leicester and Southampton to follow.

All Statistics via SofaScore – as of 19/09/2024