Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta singled out Ghanaian powerhouse Thomas Partey for huge praise following his display in Monday night’s win over Newcastle United.
The Gunners continued their strong recent form with a convincing 3-0 victory at the Emirates.
Skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang rediscovered some form with two second-half goals against Newcastle, plus in-form youngster Bukayo Saka also found the back of the net on the hour mark.
Arteta felt that Partey, who assisted Aubameyang’s first goal with an excellent pass from his own half to set the forward on the counter-attack, was another Arsenal man that impressed against Newcastle.
The 27-year-old has had a stop-start season due to injuries so far, but he proved at former club Atletico Madrid that he’s a top-class central midfielder.
“We have been missing Tommy and he has this presence, this aura, that makes him a special player for us,” Mikel Arteta told the Arsenal website.
“Hopefully we can keep him fit because we can all see the difference he makes on the side and I think he was growing and getting better and better as the game was growing and evolving.
“Yes, he can [have more attacking freedom here than at Atletico Madrid], technically he is more than capable of doing that and he’s great in both transitional moments as well.
“It will take him some time to understand a different way of thinking or doing [things] than what he was doing with the previous team he was involved in. He has all the characteristics that we need to make us better, that’s for sure.
“His dynamism, his physicality, his creativity and the presence that nature has given him. You have that person on the pitch and you are able to dominate a game when it is needed and Thomas has this quality,” the Arsenal boss added.
Arsenal now have 13 points from their last five Premier League matches to help them climb to 10th in the English Premier League table.
