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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Dan Kilpatrick

Arsenal sweat on Thomas Partey fitness as Jorginho primed for debut against Everton

Arsenal will assess Thomas Partey ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Everton, with Jorginho primed to make his debut as deputy if required.

The Ghanaian is a doubt with a rib complaint after being forced off at half-time against Manchester City, but Arteta was keen to stress the damage was not serious. Emile Smith Rowe has been ruled out entirely.

He told reporters of Partey’s availability: "Let’s see, that one is still a doubt. Let’s see how he comes in today and if he’s able to train or not. We will make a decision on that.

"He’s not ruled out and it’s nothing very significant, but it was significant enough to get him out of the game which for Thomas is a bit unusual but hopefully he’ll be fine."

Deadline-day signing Jorginho could make his debut on Merseyside and Arteta believes the arrival from Chelsea will be a good fit for his young squad.

"We knew that in this market you have to adapt and be flexible and be ready for inconvenience," the Spaniard said.

"We had a big one with the latest news on Mo [Elneny]’s injury and we needed a player in that position. [Jorginho] is a player I have always admired, a great character and someone who is going to bring leadership quality and in that position he is going to help the team a lot.

"[I particularly like] his intelligence, his personality, his leadership skills and the way he understands our way of playing and the qualities he has to implement that in football matches – he is a player that will fit in really well with what we want to do."

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