Thomas Partey has been excellent for Arsenal in the first half of this season and is a crucial piece of Mikel Arteta's midfield jigsaw. Arsenal's likelihood to win a game increases by a large margin when he is playing compared to when he is absent from kick-off. Since his arrival in 2020, he has been an automatic starter under Arteta.
However, the Gunners suffered a blow on Friday evening when the Ghanaian was subbed off at half-time with an injury. Albert Sambi Lokonga replaced him, which automatically weakened the strength of the midfield, and subsequently, a 1-0 defeat followed.
Premier League legends Roy Keane and Ian Wright highlighted the impact of Partey and the concern for Sambi Lokonga. Speaking on ITV about Manchester City’s goal, Wright said: "When you see Alvarez there you’re wondering who is picking him up? Any striker worth his sauce is going to turn and shoot, then I think Jack Grealish's vision and capability - keeping the ball here - and then knowing where Ake is, and then this is a very, very good finish, very calm.
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"But look at the amount of space [that Alvarez has] in there, someone has got to be in there - whether it’s Vieira, whether it’s Lokonga - somebody has got to be closer, there’s too much space.
"You can see the midfield is just a bit too far forward there, it’s gone too far forward there so passing the ball through into that space is too [easy]. It’s too much space."
Sambi Lokonga came on at half-time when the scoreline was still 0-0 with the Gunners looking like the side most likely to take the lead. But, this changed in the second.
Wright continued his analysis and said: "You can see the midfield is just a bit too far forward there, it’s gone too far forward there so passing the ball through into that space is too [easy]. It’s too much space.
"It felt like that [Odegaard was having to give him instructions] but you see with someone like Sambi he needs to be playing - he needs minutes. He needs to be able to understand and be more wary of where he is and what he needs to do, where he needs to be. You’ve got to try and sense that danger and that’s why he needs minutes in games of this quality, because that’s where you’ll learn.”
Keane was a lot less lenient towards Sambi Lokonga, as he replied to Wright’s point by saying: "But at this stage at that level they’ve already learnt that part of the game. It’s a big concern."
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