Ghana head coach Otto Addo says he believes that Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey will return to full fitness “very, very soon.”

The 29-year-old pulled out of the friendly against Brazil last week after he felt discomfort in his knee during the warm-up and Addo claims the decision to withdraw him from the starting lineup before the match will hopefully help him return to action quicker than expected:

“Hopefully Thomas will be healthy very, very soon, We didn’t want to take that risk in a friendly game to play him against Brazil, but surely playing a player like him against a squad like Brazil would have been helpful.”

It shouldn’t need to be pointed out that Addo is not a doctor, so we shall have to wait and see what the diagnosis is from Arsenal’s medical team.

Partey has returned to London for treatment after it was decided that he wouldn’t play for Ghana against Nicaragua this evening.

It will be hoped that the midfielder has only suffered a minor knock and that he can play some part in the North London derby this weekend.

Manager Mikel Arteta should have the likes of Kieran Tierney, Reiss Nelson and Cedric back in contention for the Tottenham game, but there are still doubts over Oleksandr Zinchenko and Emile Smith Rowe, in addition to Partey.