Thomas Partey made a welcome return to the team on Thursday night – so how ready is he to start against Newcastle?


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Mikel Arteta was asked about the Ghanaian midfielder and the fitness of Pablo Mari ahead of the game at Emirates Stadium. This is what he told the media:

on Pablo Mari…
He had a calf injury in training [on Wednesday]. I think he will miss a few matches. He’s another one we will lose but we’ve got Gabi [Magalhaes] back after COVID, which is good news, we’ve got Thomas back as well. Let’s focus on the positives.

on whether Thomas Partey is ready to start…
Well he’s made the right step. Obviously he hasn’t played much football in the last four months. He had an injury in exactly the same place he had before when he got injured against Spurs. Now we have the reassurance that he can compete. He did it for 25, 30 minutes. He did it well, he didn’t feel anything so now we’re going to be looking for the next step.