Ghana head coach Chris Hughton has confirmed that Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey has not suffered an injury setback whilst on international duty.
There was concern when the 30-year-old was taken off at half-time in a friendly against Mexico on Sunday but Hughton says the substitution was pre-planned:
“Thomas was always only going to play 45 minutes. He has been out injured for three to four weeks, he came back for Arsenal last midweek, was on the subs bench for one game, played 20 minutes for the next game. So we knew he was only going to play 45 minutes.”
As Hughton mentions, Partey had been sidelined for the best part of a month with a groin injury, having sustained the issue during the 2-2 draw against Fulham back in August.
However, the Ghanaian international did make his comeback prior to the international break, replacing Jorginho for the final 15 minutes in the 1-0 win over Manchester City at the Emirates earlier this month.
Will Partey be in contention to play against Chelsea?
If Partey does play the full 90 minutes, he will only have a couple of days to recover before the Chelsea fixture, so it remains to be seen if he will be fit to start on Saturday evening.
Do Arsenal have any other injuries heading into this weekend’s game?
Leandro Trossard had to withdraw from the Belgium squad after tweaking his hamstring in the victory against City, so there are doubts about whether he’ll feature.
There are also concerns about Bukayo Saka and William Saliba, although the general feeling is the latter will be available after using the international break to recover from a toe injury. Jurrien Timber (ACL) is not expected to play again this season,
