Thomas Partey injury update ahead of Leicester City vs Arsenal encounter
There is a possibility of Arsenal receiving positive news regarding injuries prior to their upcoming Premier League match against Leicester City.
Thomas Partey is working hard to regain fitness and be available for the game, which would be a significant boost for the team
Partey, who has played an important role in Mikel Arteta’s team this season, has been absent from the last two matches due to a thigh injury.
During Arsenal’s previous match against Aston Villa, Jorginho replaced Partey, and his shot resulted in an own goal by Emi Martinez during injury time.
In preparation for the upcoming game, Arteta provided an update to BT Sport, stating that Thomas Partey had not yet resumed training and would require “probably another week” for recovery. As a result, it is uncertain whether he will be able to participate in the game against City, and it may be a close decision regarding his fitness.
According to TalkSPORT, Thomas Partey did not participate in Arsenal’s training session on Monday. Nonetheless, the club is “confident” that he will recuperate in time for the match at the King Power Stadium.
However, the Evening Standard reports that although the player is “hopeful” of returning for the game against City, the club will “evaluate” his condition during the week, and the timeline for his return is “narrow” in the run-up to the match.
In addition to Thomas Partey, Arsenal may receive a boost from the potential return of Emile Smith Rowe, an academy graduate. The 22-year-old made his return to the squad for the first time in over a month during the game against Villa but remained unused on the bench.
He has had a stop-start season due to groin surgery earlier on, which was followed by a setback at the beginning of the year. Smith Rowe has made 88 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 18 goals and providing nine assists since breaking into the first team.
Mikel Arteta has also provided some reassurance regarding Bukayo Saka’s fitness after he was seen limping during the game against Villa. It appears that Saka’s injury concerns have been alleviated.
“(Saka)’s fine – he got kicked quite a lot again,” he said. “But he’s going to have to deal with that, not every week, but every three days. Sometimes in training as well. It’s his game – teams are not stupid and they want to stop him. We need to protect him.”
Leicester City will enter Saturday’s game aiming to recover from a 3-0 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
However, despite the loss, Brendan Rodgers’ team can draw encouragement from their first-half display, during which they could have been ahead by two goals prior to Marcus Rashford’s opening goal.
Thomas Partey injury update ahead of Leicester City vs Arsenal encounter