Having seen Ethan Nwaneri’s development this season at close hand, Thomas Partey feels our teenager is constantly getting better as he benefits from experiencing Premier League football.
The 17-year-old marked his second successive start in the division by scoring our goal in the 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion, surging in off the right flank and showing great composure to slip the ball home.
That was his fifth goal of the season in just his fifth start for the club, and Thomas is looking forward to seeing him continue to unlock his potential, even if he wasn’t able to celebrate his strike with the three points as we left Sussex with a draw.
“He’s a very good player and we know the qualities he has,” Thomas said post-match. “He’s working a lot and he’s improving. I’m really happy for him today for scoring. It could have been better if we’d have won today but we could not get the win. He needs to keep improving and all the best to him.
“We are sad, frustrated, everybody is down but that’s part of football. We wanted to win, we wanted to keep the momentum going and at the end of the day, we didn’t get it.
“But it’s also a positive one because we did not lose. We have to try our best and win these games because they’re the most important ones, but it’s not an easy game against a good side and to win here you have to be perfect. We need to forget about today and keep on working hard to win our next game.
Thomas filled in for Jurrien Timber at right-back with the Dutchman suspended at the Amex Stadium, a role that he has been deployed in a few times now this campaign due to injuries and bans.
And the unselfish Ghanian wants to keep evolving in that defensive position to help his team when he’s required to play there, as he tries to master a second position on the pitch.
“I’m a professional and I’ll play everywhere to help the team. I’m available to play in any position, I’ll do my best and also give my best all the time.
“If I can do much better and improve, I can be happy. It’s moments that the team need me and I have to be there and I’m really happy to help the team all the time.
Tuesday sees the small matter of a League Cup semi-final against Newcastle United to play in, and Thomas cannot wait for the opportunity to get back to winning ways, with an opportunity to lay down a first-leg marker as we eye a Wembley final.
To do that though, he feels that the home crowd will help play their part as we aim for every advantage possible to take a lead to St James’ Park a month later where our fate will be decided.
On that game, he added: “I’m very excited, we have to prepare well. We know how difficult it is to play against them, the quality that they have, the players they have, we have to be ready for them.
“It’s going to be amazing; we know how big the supporters are and the big part they play in the games that we play, and we’ll need them for this game.”
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.