Arsenal fans all say the same thing about Thomas Partey after his Leicester performance and it’s not good

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At 31-years-old, Thomas Partey is perhaps playing his last season in an Arsenal shirt given his contract will expire in June 2025.

Partey is expected to leave Arsenal, but will be hoping to depart the Emirates Stadium with a Premier League medal in his hand.

After starting the first six league games for Arsenal, Partey is actually on course for his best campaign of availability yet – hoping to beat his 28 starts in the 2022/23 season.

Partey’s injuries have always been an issue in the past, Arsenal have sorely missed their world-class midfield operator when he’s been gone, which has been way too often.

However, in this new era of availability, Partey’s ability is now being called into question, an issue highlighted in the 4-2 win over Leicester.

Thomas Partey was ‘jogging’ when James Justin scored for Leicester

With Mikel Merino still yet to make his Arsenal debut owing to a shoulder injury, Partey has been Mikel Arteta’s go-to number six so far this season.

Perhaps Declan Rice will drop deeper when the Spaniard is ready, but Arteta has been enjoying utilising Rice’s ball-carrying skills as a eight. 

READ MORE: Graeme Souness says Mikel Arteta is making Arsenal players do one thing to trick ‘dummy’ referees

That being said, Partey is now a concern in the middle for Arsenal, at least in the view of their fans.

After the last-gasp win on Sunday one fan wrote: “Just seen Leicester’s 2nd goal again, Partey jogging not tracking his man and doesn’t even try to block the cross or challenge for the ball.

“For such a duels obsessed manager, it’s weird how he [Arteta] has a blindspot for this guy.”

Another fan then pushed blame in Partey’s direction for the first goal Arsenal conceded to James Justin too, saying he was rushing the ball forwards too quickly.

“Partey tries to get us up the field too quickly and it gave Leicester momentum to attack us. It resulted in us conceding the set piece for the first goal.”

One fan then begged for Partey to be dropped, perhaps suggesting that Ethan Nwaneri should come in.

“Arteta, please end this Rice-Partey midfield. Just a recipe for disaster, especially in the absence of Odegaard against teams that sit deep.

“Nwaneri, just by carrying the ball into the Leicester box offered more than Partey did all game.”

Arsenal already know their Partey upgrade

Of course, in an ideal world Arsenal may have sold Partey already this summer, if a buyer had come forward for the Ghanaian

Arsenal were willing to sell Partey, but would have surely then needed adequate time to find a new number six, which wouldn’t have been ideal in a summer in which Martin Zubimendi was unavailable.

It still seems as if the Spaniard is Arteta’s first choice, a player who may be incredibly hard to prise away from Real Sociedad.

But perhaps along with a new striker to replace Gabriel Jesus, that is a logical next step for Arsenal, be it in January or in a year’s time.

Although Arteta’s squad is almost perfect right now, there’s still room for improvement, players who can help Arsenal compete on a continental front.