The Gunners were aiming to win the Premier League this season after finishing runners-up to Manchester City last month. In the summer they splashed the cash to pay Declan Rice a British record fee of £105m, the Timbers joined from Ajax for around £40m. However, the defender suffered an ACL injury on the opening day of the Premier League season and has been sidelined ever since. Partey required surgery last October due to pelvic pain.
After a disappointing festive period (defeats to West Ham and Fulham), the north London outfit sit fourth in the Premier League, five points behind leaders Liverpool. The title rivals will fight for a place in the fourth round of the FA Cup at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. Before the tie, Arteta lamented the unavailability of Timber and Partey. Per the Evening Standard , the Arsenal manager said: “(Timber’s accident) was a big blow. Everyone saw from day one what he would bring to the team. “Universality, quality, leadership. And in the back line we don’t have the capacity. It was a huge success. “Losing Thomas was a huge blow. We haven’t had that and it’s difficult. I’m very glad we have them in the building. “But they weren’t on the field as much as we wanted them to be.
Liverpool will put their Premier League title challenge behind them for good and travel to face Arsenal in the FA Cup third round. Mikel Areta admitted the extended absences of Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey were a “big blow” for Arsenal.
We had a different plan to make sure he was very versatile and had an unpredictable way of playing.
Arsenal also sweated out Aleksandr Zinchenko’s stamina in defeat against Fulham. Arteta: “He is making good progress. “Tomorrow we will have another training session to assess if he is ready to play and start the game.”
