Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey has admitted the Gunners are struggling with confidence as injuries and suspensions continue to plague their squad.
Central defender William Lintasa he became the third Arsenal player to receive a red card in the first eight games of the season, after Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard, which has led to accusations of a disciplinary problem at Mikel Arteta’s side.
Meanwhile, the Gunners have also been forced to deal with injuries to key players such as Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Ben White.
With red cards proving to be a massive problem for arsenal This season, Partey urged the squad to heed Arteta’s warning that they will not win the Premier League title if they continue to go down to ten men during games.
“Of course we have to try to stay with 11 men, which is very difficult,” Partey told reporters. “But every time we have 11 players on the pitch we always dominate the game and win it. Like I said, we have to learn from those mistakes and we’ll try not to let them happen again.
“We have a very good squad and we know that every time we stay with 11 men on the field we will dominate the game and we are always thinking about winning. We want to win every game but sometimes, as I said, things happen. On the field we don’t you can control We have to win any competition, (against Bournemouth) we couldn’t do that, so we have to forget (the defeat) and focus on our next game.
“(Saliba) is a huge player that we will miss and someone has to step up. We have good defenses and the manager knows what he will do to help the team and also any player that is there has to step up . go in and try to do your best.”
With Saliba suspended for the upcoming clash with Liverpool and a number of key players unavailable through injury, Partey admitted Arsenal are not feeling as confident as usual.
“Well, I think we need all the players. It’s important when you have the full squad, you’re more confident,” confessed the midfielder.
“But we are a team, we are working hard and there is a lot of competition. So both for me individually and for other players I think we have to keep working hard and focus on the game and not on our missing players” .
