'Something has clicked again for Partey'

Thomas Partey was brutally honest back in December when asked to rate his Arsenal career so far.

“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.

Since then, the Ghana international has started to return to his best form - and has enjoyed arguably his best spell in our colours.

So what does Mikel Arteta put Partey's resurgence down to?

"I think when you are honest with yourself it’s a great starting point and when you assess yourself in the way that Thomas did publicly, it’s a really rare thing to do," the boss said.

"He did it because he believed that was the case, that he wants to give much more to the team and to the club and probably that something has clicked again, probably the fact that he’s been injury-free, it’s a massive thing in there, but as well he’s probably more fit because he’s doing things better."

Partey opened his account for the club with a glancing header against Aston Villa earlier this season, but often shoots during matches without success so far.

So how close is he getting to landing one of those long-range strikes?

"He is practising and some of the goals he scores in training you would be amazed!" Arteta said. "You won’t believe me probably, so you will have to see one of those soon going into the net."