Thomas Partey gives painfully honest assessment of his time at Arsenal

Thomas Partey has admitted that he has to 'get better', awarding himself a mark of four out of ten for his Arsenal career so far.

Partey arrived in north London in October 2020 after the Gunners activated his £45m release clause, with Atletico Madrid reluctant to let the dynamic midfielder depart. However, since then the Ghanaian has struggled to justify his price tag - while Atleti have won La Liga in his absence.

Last season Partey made 33 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal, with a string of niggling injuries affecting his availability. He has also missed games this season due to an ankle complaint, and when he has featured his performances have not always been convincing.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Partey confessed that he needs to improve over the coming months.

"I give myself four [out of 10], because there are moments I can really hurt the other team but there are also moments where I allow myself to lose focus and that's when everything goes down," he said.

"This is when you realise that you have to get better."

Partey came under particularly close scrutiny during the Gunners' recent 3-2 defeat to Man Utd, where he registered his third worst passing accuracy percentage of the campaign.

"From the start [of the Manchester United game] I had a couple of moments where I gave two balls away and someone watching on TV from home or in the stadium, it is normal that they see this," he added.

"At the end, I have to be happy with some moments, I have to learn from the bad parts and try to do better. I think they demanded more and personally I know I can give more. I have to keep working and at the end I will get the results."

He continued: "I have to read more of the game. Now I am having a lot of continuous games, it is normal that some games, or some moments in the games, I will be down.

"With more games, with more confidence, I will be able to get to where I want to be."

Partey was speaking before his side's trip to Everton on Monday night. Arsenal will be confident of getting a result with the Toffees without a win in their last eight Premier League games.

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