Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey is set to have a scan on a suspected thigh injury he suffered during Sunday’s 3-0 defeat against Aston Villa, Mikel Arteta has confirmed.
The Ghanaian star lasted only 45 minutes at the Emirates before being forced off during the break and eventually replaced by Dani Ceballos.
News of Partey’s injury capped a disappointing evening for Arsenal, who slipped to a 3-0 defeat with two goals from Ollie Watkins and an own goal from Saka.
When asked about the severity of Partey’s injury, Arteta said: “I don’t know. As I said, the doctor will have to have a look at him and probably scan him. Then we will decide what to do with him.”
The Spanish midfielder would not be drawn on whether Partey’s injury would be enough to see him withdraw from the Ghana national team for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
“We don’t know [whether he will withdraw],” he added. “We have to scan him tomorrow or the day after and see what he felt straight away. Let’s wait and see what the magnitude of the injury is.”
Arteta could not explain his side’s poor display, which came just a week after claiming a superb 1-0 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
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The gunners hit the target just twice from 13 efforts at goal and their tally of nine goals from eight Premier League matches is the fewest they have scored to start the campaign for 22 years.
“It is very tough to find the reasons,” added Arteta. “I cannot say I have seen a change or this week that we have trained a different way. I would be lying if I said that. But obviously there was something there today that [Villa] wanted much more than us, and they showed it.
“At the end of the day, if you are late in every decision you make, if you don’t win enough duels, if every second ball isn’t for us, you don’t show the quality with the ball, you cannot defend your box, and when you get chances you don’t even hit the target, it is a really complicated way to win football matches.”
