Partey out as Elneny and Pepe headline Arsenal squad for Newcastle United

Thomas Partey is out of Arsenal’s FA Cup clash with Newcastle United on Saturday evening.

The 27-year-old suffered a thigh injury during the Gunners’ Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur and subsequently missed the team’s last eight matches across all competitions.

Manager Mikel Arteta had previously hinted that he could be available for the fixture against Steve Bruce’s men having returned to training.

“Well, we have an extra two training sessions [before the game] and we will assess after that whether he is completely fully ready to participate against Newcastle, or if we’re going to leave it another few days for the Palace game,” the Spaniard told media as reported by the Arsenal website.

“He is training really good, he is comfortable, he is not aware of the injury right now and he has done more than what he already did before he played after the injury against Spurs, so he is in a good place, a good mood and you can see the player (how) he is when he is training.”

However, he eventually did not make the cut for the Cup game against Newcastle while Cote d’Ivoire’s Nicolas Pepe, Egypt’s Mohamed Elneny and captain Pierre-Emeric Aubameyang were included in the starting XI.

English youth international of Ghanaian origin Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka are among the nine substitutes.

After this showdown at the Emirates Stadium, Arteta and his men host Crystal Palace in a Week 18 English elite division fixture, and hopefully, Partey could be available.

Victory for them against Roy Hodgson’s Eagles would help them improve on their position on the log. As it stands, they are 11th after garnering 23 points from 17 games played so far in the 2020-21 campaign.