Mikel Arteta: Playing Thomas Partey at right-back worked really well

Partey started for the Gunners in their opening game of the 2023/24 Premier League season against Steve Cooper’s side on Saturday.

The Ghana international was surprisingly deployed at right-back, although he constantly moved into the middle of the park and helped Arsenal to dominate their opponents.

He ended the game with 94% passing accuracy, 116 touches, two tackles and two key passes as goals from Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka saw Arsenal record a 2-1 win following Taiwo Awoyini’s late consolation goal.

Addressing the media after the game, Arteta said he was impressed with Thomas Partey playing at right-back and said it worked really well.

“We expected a game that actually happened and we needed somebody else there in midfield to do what we have to do the best, and have more fluidity and occupy certain spaces in relation to how they were defending. I think it worked really well,” the Arsenal boss said.

Arteta was also impressed with Arsenal’s overall domination, describing the victory against Nottingham Forest as deserved.

“I think that’s the highlight, we were super dominant, we deserved to win the game, there’s no question that we deserved to win the game,” he said.

“But when you are 2-0 up and you have some chances to kill the game we didn’t and then we gave a very sloppy one away after being there and having the corner and having a chance on the corner.

“Straight away from two passes you concede a goal, when that happens in the league it’s game on, every team has the resources, the quality to create issues, and it was more about the feeling of what happened, because the reality is we didn’t concede anything. Running the clock down, in this league, that’s a very dangerous thing to do but overall I'm very happy.”

Arsenal’s next Premier League game is against Crystal Palace next Monday.