Thomas Partey will not feature for Arsenal in their Champions League last-16 clash against Porto. The Ghana international has missed the last four-and-a-half months through injury with a number of muscular issues plaguing his 2023/24 season which has resulted in him making just five appearances.

Alongside the long-term absence of Partey and summer signing Jurrien Timber, the Gunners have been hit by a number of recent issues with Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu among those missing. Ahead of the Premier League clash against Burnley, Arteta delivered a vague injury update before later specificizing how Partey was recovering.

“There’s no big set backs,” Arteta said. “Thomas Partey is progressing really well. It’s looking very good and he’s on the field already.” The quartet were not involved in the clash at Turf Moor and that is expected to stay the same in Portugal with none of Jesus, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu or Partey travelling to Portugal, despite the latter being spotted in training on Thursday.

 

However, Arsenal have not shown to be affected by their absence with five consecutive league wins arriving over the last month which has seen 21 goals scored. Following the thumping 5-0 win this past weekend, Arteta was asked for his thoughts on the recent dominances displayed by the Gunners.

“We want to dominate games and play in the opponents half as much as possible,” he said. “I think the threat, the purpose, the activity and the connections of the players are flowing and they really want it.

“We have momentum now and we have to maintain it. Now we leave the Premier League, we go to Porto which will be a really tough environment, so just prepare to play well again and be ourselves.” As Arteta mentions, up next is a major European clash in the hostile Estadio do Dragao where Porto have not lost in three months.

Fabio Vieira is one player whose experience playing at Arsenal could be useful. The Portugal international joined the Gunners in the summer of 2022 after leaving Porto, but he has been sidelined by injury for the past few months.

He has, nevertheless, traveled with the Arsenal team in the hopes of playing for the first time since November 11, 2023.