The mood around Arsenal heading into last night’s Champions League game was not positive.
A defeat to West Ham United and a draw with Nottingham Forest all but ended the Premier League title race, and there was a concern that it was set to be another disappointing night in Eindhoven.
However, it turns out there was no need to be worried, as the Gunners tore PSV asunder, running out 7-1 winners and being the first team to score seven goals away from home in the competition’s knockout rounds.
However, for all the brilliant performances, and there were plenty, one of Mikel Arteta’s starters had a night to forget and should probably be dropped ahead of the weekend.
Arsenal’s best performers vs PSV
The good news for Arteta is that there were plenty of stand-out performers from his starting lineup last night, but as Martin Odegaard and Ethan Nwaneri have since received much of the attention, and justifiably so, it’s worth looking at a couple of others, like Leandro Trossard.
The Belgian international has not had a great season this year, but against PSV, he was superb, both as a dangerous attacking outlet and as someone who helped to control the pace of the game.
With a brilliantly taken goal and two key passes to his name, it would be fair to say that he was more than deserving of the 8/10 match rating he received from the Standard’s Simon Collings at full-time.
Someone who was even more instrumental, though, was Declan Rice, who Collings awarded a 9/10 at full-time, writing that it was a ‘monster performance’ from the Englishman.
It certainly was, as from the first minute to the last, he was marauding up and down the pitch, and it felt like the Dutch giants just couldn’t live with him, and he really should have got a goal to go with his assist and the two big chances he created.
However, it wasn’t quite the perfect night for Arsenal, and there was one player who should probably sit the next game out.
The Arsenal star Arteta must drop after PSV
So, some of you may be thinking about Myles Lewis-Skelly at this point, and while he was reckless in the first half and deserved to be taken off, he’s not the player in question.
Thomas Partey was arguably just as reckless during a key point in the game, so much so that he actually gave the hosts a chance to get back into the game when the Gunners were 3-0 up.
In a “lunatic moment,” as journalist Oli Price Bates described it, the vastly experienced Ghanaian gave away a penalty by wrapping his arm around Luuk de Jong’s neck and pulling him to the ground, and while the Dutchman initiated contact, the former Atlético Madrid star did little to break it.
However, while the foul was the worst part of the 31-year-old’s performance, it wasn’t the only reason he should be dropped from the lineup, as his statistics from the match demonstrate that he struggled to have any real positive influence over proceedings.
In 71 minutes of action, he produced an expected assists figure of 0.04, took 47 touches, didn’t play a single key pass, didn’t have a shot on or off target, lost 50% of his duels, committed two fouls and didn’t make a single tackle.
|
Partey’s game in numbers |
|
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
71′ |
|
Expected Goals |
0.00 |
|
Goals |
0 |
|
Expected Assists |
0.04 |
|
Assists |
0 |
|
Touches |
47 |
|
Key Passes |
0 |
|
Shots on Target |
0 |
|
Shots off Target |
0 |
|
Duels (Won) |
2 (1) |
|
Fouls |
2 |
|
Tackles |
0 |
It’s not just us who were left unimpressed by the Odumase Krobo-born star either, as Collings gave him a 5/10 match rating at full-time, which feels about right.
Ultimately, it wasn’t a horror showing from Partey, and he certainly still has a big part to play in Arsenal’s Champions League campaign, but he was subpar yesterday and should be dropped for the game at the weekend.
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