Here are your Arsenal evening headlines for Wednesday, December 2.
Arteta reveals Partey fitness
Mikel Arteta has revealed that Thomas Partey will face a late fitness test ahead of Sunday’s crucial north London derby.
The midfielder, who arrived in a blockbuster summer transfer, has missed the last three matches after suffering a thigh injury in a 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa in mid-November. He will also miss Thursday’s match against Rapid Vienna.
Arteta, though, revealed that the Ghanian international is pushing hard to play on Sunday.
“We don’t know, again he’s really pushing every day he’s trying to get around the doctors and the physio he hasn’t trained with the team yet,” Arteta said in his press conference on Wednesday.
“So let's see this week if he can get a session or two, assess him and scan him again to see the extent of the injury and how it's healed.
“I know if it's Thomas he wants to play tomorrow and then we have to see medically that he's safe to run or participate this week at all.”
January business on the cards
Arteta has given the biggest indication yet that Arsenal could be busy in the January transfer window as he and his team look to right the wrongs of a difficult start to the season.
Arsenal have endured their worst start to a league campaign in almost 40 years, but Arteta hinted that they will spend in the winter window ahead of a crucial second half of the campaign as he admitted that he does not have the players to implement his ideal system.
“We want to move to a 4-3-3 but for that, you need a lot of specificity in every position but now in five or six positions, we don’t have it,” Arteta said to DAZN .
“The aggressiveness, the effectiveness, the amount of steals we make in opposition half I think we have been very steady against some big clubs.
“I think that what we miss is in the opponent’s area and the last part of the pitch. We have to find the key in the attack, that last decision, that last pass, that last cross to create a goal situation, a goal, a shot, a corner, etc.”
Arteta the “most exciting young manager in Europe”
Despite a difficult start to the season, Arteta has still been hailed as one of the “most exciting young managers in Europe” ahead of the weekend’s north London derby.
Arteta is preparing his team to face Tottenham Hotspur, who currently sit joint-top of the Premier League and Spurs defender Eric Dier paid quite the compliment to the manager of his direct rival.
“I think they’ve got an exciting young manager,” he told Sky Sports . “Obviously I’m not on the inside but from what I see personally, the most exciting young manager in Europe for sure.
“I like his way and the way he seems to be as a manager. I think they’re in good hands.”
