Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta, has confirmed that the club’s new signing, Thomas Partey, is desperate to make his Gunners debut in Saturday’s Premier League clash against Manchester City at Etihad.
Arteta also admitted that Partey would need to make an instant impression in his first training session if he is to be selected to face Pep Guardiola’s side.
The Spaniard stated this on Thursday at his pre-match press conference. Arsenal head to the match after defeating Sheffield United 2-1 in their previous Premier League fixture.
“Well he [Partey] was here just yesterday, he is getting familiar with everything around the club,” Arteta was quoted by Arsenal’s official website as saying.
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“Today, he will have his first training session, so everything has to come really quickly for him. We knew that before we signed him that he is fit, he is very willing to start playing and we will see how he goes in the next few days.
“I have seen the buzz around the place, the fans are really happy, I have seen some really positive reactions after we bought him, the same with the team, the squad and the staff.
“I think he is a player we had the radar on for a long time and we have managed to bring him in, and I think he will be a really important addition to the team. ‘
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“He got to know some of his team-mates [already]. Not all of them, because some are still on international duty, but we will have everyone back today, and it will be a good day for him to get to know everyone.”
Mikel Arteta takes Arsenal to Manchester City on Saturday to face his mentor Pep Guardiola but will the Gunners pull off a statement win to underline their improvement under him?
Former City coach Arteta has come up against Guardiola and City twice already in his short managerial career, losing 3-0 at the Etihad when the Premier League restarted in June and then pulling off a shock 2-0 win in the FA Cup semi-finals en route to lifting that trophy.
Ex-Arsenal striker and current Sky Sports pundit Alan Smith has been impressed by Arteta’s work at the club since he took charge last December and fully expects Arsenal to improve on their eighth-placed finish last season in the Premier League.
However, how high Arsenal will go, remains to be seen but Smith says a win at City would be a huge step forwards for the team.
Read Also: EPL: Partey Breaks Silence After Leaving Atletico Madrid For Arsenal
“I think Arsenal fans will be looking forward to this one,” Smith told the Pitch to Post Preview podcast. “More so than a year ago when going to the places of the big boys would have filled them with a bit of dread as to whether they were going to get turned over, embarrassed even.
“But nowadays, win lose or draw, Arsenal fans are fairly confident they’ll go up there prepared, organised, and they’ll give City a good game. Arteta has come a long way in a short space of time. As a coach, individually, and also in charge of that Arsenal team that is pushing in the right direction.
“It’s that attention to detail first of all and the demand for high standards week in, week out, and day in, day out on the training ground [which Arteta has in common with Guardiola]. That’s the mark of a good coach, always pushing his team.
“It’s getting those players to buy into that project. It’s not so easy these days, you’ve got independent footballers that can go one way or the other if they don’t feel the manager is the right man and they don’t get a sense he’s doing the right thing.
“But everyone at Arsenal wants to be a part of Arteta’s way forward and if they’re buying into it, that’s a great asset, a great strength to have.
“It would be a statement to go up there and get a win. Obviously they lost at Liverpool and nobody was all that surprised by that, least of all Arteta. There’s still a gap there – a sizeable one.
“The early results suggest it might be a funny season without the fans, we’ve already seen some strange results and we might get some more. I’m not suggesting we’ll get a shock with Leicester winning the title but Arsenal should improve quite significantly on that eighth-place finish last season. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.
“And quite rightly they’re aiming for a top-four finish to get them back in the big time, back into Champions League football where they were for a couple of decades or more. That’s the challenge. They’ve obviously won a trophy with the FA Cup last season, which was wonderful, but to get into that top four that would really make a statement in Arteta’s first full season.”
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