Arsenal will take on Leeds United this Sunday in the Premier League and manager Mikel Arteta will be without midfielder Thomas Partey and left-back Kieran Tierney.
Thomas Partey had picked up a muscle injury against Aston Villa last weekend but during the course of the week, many reports had claimed that the injury is not too serious and the midfielder will be fit in time to face Bielsa’s side this weekend.
But now in a shocking admission, Mikel Arteta has revealed in his press conference that the summer signing will not be available for the Leeds United game.
Talking about Thomas Partey, Arteta said, as per the club’s official website: “It is a difficult one, he felt something during the game and we didn’t think it was too bad but after the scan looked a little bit worse.
“He won’t be available to play against Leeds and we will see how it evolves in the next two days but it is a muscular issue.
“He was devastated, we were all devastated because we know the importance of Thomas and we haven’t had him since we signed him, we haven’t had him in three games consecutively.
“I think he has only played 90 minutes once since he has come back from injury, so it is a big blow for us but he is adapting to the league, he has been very unlucky as well and he is very frustrated because he is a very competitive guy who wants to feel important and be important for the team and at the moment the injuries are restricting a lot of game time for him.”
This is a huge setback for Thomas Partey since he’s already missed a lot of games this season due to an injury and now this fresh setback will keep him out of action for a few more weeks.
To make matters worse, Kieran Tierney will also not likely feature vs the Elland Road outfit as he’s taking a pretty long time to recover from his calf injury.
The manager added: “We have to see how the knee reacts when he starts to get a bit more load.
“He hasn’t had much left but he is very positive at the moment, he is in good spirits and he is desperate to get back in the team and we will see in the next few days, the moment he starts to train with the team and se how he is feeling and how he reacts.”
With Kieran Tierney out of action, Cedric Soares will once again have to play on the left-hand side of defence while someone like Elneny or Dani Ceballos could get to start in central midfield alongside Granit Xhaka.
