Thomas Partey says someone in Arsenal squad must ‘step up’ against Liverpool

Thomas Partey has bemoaned Arsenal’s indiscipline at the start of the season and says somebody will have to ‘step up’ in the absence of the suspended William Saliba against Liverpool.

Arsenal have finished with ten men on the field in three of their opening eight matches of the Premier League campaign, with Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and Saliba all given their marching orders this term.

The Gunners’ supposed naivety in this area has repeatedly been called into question throughout Mikel Arteta’s tenure, forcing the Spaniard to cope without key players in several high-stakes matches.

Saliba’s sending off for a foul on Bournemouth’s Evanilson proved costly as Arsenal went on to lose 2-0 at the Vitality Stadium and his ineligibility for the side’s upcoming clash with top-of-the-table Liverpool just compounds Arteta’s frustrations.

The France centre-back played every minute in the Premier League last season and Partey believes his absence comes as a major blow to Arsenal ahead of the Emirates clash.

‘He’s a massive player who we are going to miss and somebody has to step up,’ the Arsenal midfielder said of Saliba’s suspension.

‘We have good defenders and the coach knows what he is going to do to help the team and also, any player who is there has to step in and try to give their best.

‘We have to first concentrate on our Champions League game [against Shakhtar Donetsk], try to win, and then move to the next game. 

‘But at the moment we have to learn from the mistakes, we have to try and stay with 11 men on the pitch. 

‘We are good when we have 11 on the pitch, we are also good with 10 men, but we cannot stay every game with 10 men so we have to continue working hard and try to stay 11 men on the pitch.’

Partey acknowledges that Arsenal must learn from their ‘mistakes’, though feels some situations and decisions are of their ‘control’.

‘We have a very good squad and we know every time we stay with 11 men on the pitch we are going to dominate the game and we are always thinking of winning,’ the Ghana international added.

‘We want to win every game but sometimes as I said, things do happen on the pitch that you cannot control. 

‘We have to win out any contest, Saturday we could not do it. So we have to forget about Saturday and concentrate on our next game.

‘We try to win our duels and sometimes these things happen. Sometimes we cannot control it, we have to just stick together, continue working and red cards do happen in games. 

‘So at the end of the day, it’s part of football. We have to learn from every mistake we do and then try to not let it happen.’

Despite his sending off on Saturday, Saliba will be available to feature in Arsenal’s Champions League tie with Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night.

The north London giants remain undefeated in Europe’s premier competition, beating Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 following a goalless draw away to Atalanta in their opening match.

There are a number of possibilities available to Arteta to come in and replace Saliba versus Liverpool, with Ben White, Jakub Kiwior, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Riccardo Calafiori all options to fill in alongside Gabriel Magalhaes.

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