The midfielder appeared to be making good progress when he was pictured in first team training a week ago, however, the boss was quick to rule him out of Tuesday’s trip to Nottingham Forest and now says he’s not sure when the 30-year-old will be available.
“Thomas, unfortunately, had a little setback a few days ago so he’s not going to be available to be in the squad,” said Arteta ahead of Sunday’s match with Liverpool.
“Whether it’s a matter of days or weeks we will see, but he had a little thing.
“I’m not a doctor but he felt something again in a very similar area and he wasn’t able to train the last few days.”
“It’s a big concern,” he added. “He’s such an important player for us and he was getting some momentum at the start of the season and then we lost him for a while.
“And now it’s been a long time without him. He gives us something very different that no other player can give us in this squad. And he’s been a real miss.”
Asked if Partey’s ongoing injury issues are a case of bad luck, he continued: “Well, there have been different kinds of injuries, but not everything is bad luck.
“There’s a lot of things that are very difficult to control as well, and obviously, the player has a history as well where he has some issues in the past, but we have to try to protect him and do everything that we can to try to avoid it again.”
In better news, Arteta confirmed that Gabriel Jesus, despite revealing he nearly missed Tuesday’s trip to the City Ground after getting kicked on the knee, has been training all week.
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