'Arsenal Buoyed By Partey Signing'

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'Arsenal Buoyed By Partey Signing'

This weekend's Premier League clash between Arsenal and Leicester City is set to be a very close encounter, according to Simon Collings, Football Writer at the London Evening Standard.

2020-10-25T11:04:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

25 Oct, 2020

'Arsenal Buoyed By Partey Signing'

This weekend's Premier League clash between Arsenal and Leicester City is set to be a very close encounter, according to Simon Collings, Football Writer at the London Evening Standard.

Sam Jones

2020-10-25T11:04:00.000Z

'Arsenal Buoyed By Partey Signing'

This weekend's Premier League clash between Arsenal and Leicester City is set to be a very close encounter, according to Simon Collings, Football Writer at the London Evening Standard.

Sam Jones

2020-10-25T11:04:00.000Z

'Arsenal Buoyed By Partey Signing'

This weekend's Premier League clash between Arsenal and Leicester City is set to be a very close encounter, according to Simon Collings, Football Writer at the London Evening Standard.

Sam Jones

2020-10-25T11:04:00.000Z

'Arsenal Buoyed By Partey Signing'

This weekend's Premier League clash between Arsenal and Leicester City is set to be a very close encounter, according to Simon Collings, Football Writer at the London Evening Standard.

Sam Jones

2020-10-25T11:04:00.000Z

- Leicester City travel to face Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Sunday evening (7:15pm kick-off)- Both teams are returning to Premier League action after UEFA Europa League fixtures in midweek- London Evening Standard Football Writer Simon Collings is expecting a tight game after a duo of European wins- He also spoke about the influence of new Arsenal recruit Thomas Partey after seeing the midfielder make his debut on Thursday

With both sides playing in the UEFA Europa League just three days earlier, Collings expects to see changes to the line-ups when the two teams face off on Sunday evening (7:15pm kick-off).

Arsenal defeated Rapid Wien 2-1 in Austria to get their European campaign off to the perfect start and were able to rest some of their key players ahead of the visit of the Foxes.

"Arsenal were pretty swift in coming back from Austria, they had a slightly earlier kick-off than Leicester did on Thursday," Collings told LCFC TV.

"I think the plan for them will be to have a few light training sessions, a bit of shape work and then get straight into that Leicester game.

"[Mikel] Arteta tried to make some changes on Thursday night, [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang only played half an hour, [Héctor] Bellerín only half an hour, so there'll be some fresh legs to add to the team for that game on Sunday."

The last Premier League meeting in north London saw Leicester come from behind to snatch a 1-1 draw in July, thanks to Jamie Vardy's late equaliser. Collings believes City's No.9 will hold the key to how Sunday's game could go, should he feature, adding that Arsenal's defence is stronger than when Leicester last visited.

"It will be an interesting one," he continued. "That game at the back end of last season, I thought the two sides were pretty even then and I suspect it will be pretty similar this time around.

"The key will be Vardy's fitness. I know, obviously, Brendan Rodgers is hoping to get him back in the team for that game and he really is Arsenal's nemesis. He's got 10 goals against them in the Premier League, he's incredibly dangerous.

"The Arsenal backline this season has looked pretty good. I think Gabriel has been one of their best players, but playing against someone like Vardy will be a true test of how good this Arsenal defence is."

The Gunners' new midfield star, Thomas Partey, made his full debut in Thursday's Europa League victory, taking the plaudits for a Man of the Match display in the middle of the park.

Collings admitted the signing of a player of that calibre has sparked excitement within the Arsenal fanbase, who have been calling out for a midfielder in that mould.

"Before the last day of the transfer window, there was some excitement," Collings revealed. "But when that deal went through for Partey, that's when the excitement really went up a level.

"They went out and spend £45M on a type of midfielder that Arsenal have probably been craving for almost a decade.

"To go and do that business right at the last moment really meant fans believe that the club, the owners, Arteta himself, is really committed to this project.

"And the start Partey made was great, but on Sunday, against the likes of Youri Tielemans and James Maddison will be a true barometer of how good a player he can be for Arsenal.

"Arsenal knew this summer that their midfield wasn't as strong as they wanted it to be, [Granit] Xhaka and [Dani] Ceballos were very good last season, but beyond that, there wasn't masses of depth.

"They managed to get rid of [Matteo] Guedouzi and [Lucas] Torreira. [Mohamed] Elneny is a good player but he's not in that elite level of central midfielders.

"Partey is, but he's going to really be tested against players like Tielemans and Maddison, because they are quality midfield players.

"Arsenal will want to shut them down and if anyone's going to be able to do that, it would be Partey."

All times GMT.

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