At the very least it might mean that Xhaka doesn’t just get a start by default? Without Partey I think Xhaka gets picked because no one else has any real leadership creds in the middle, but with him he’s going to have to offer more than just yelling and pointing to keep his spot.
At what temperature do you reckon Tienery will wear long sleeves?
we played well, WBA were utter rubbish but it was actually nice that we were able to put the rubbish out for once. Arteta has stumbled on a team that works, although we will have more challenging matches ahead. a nice little run, a nice fixture list over christmas for once. so we can build up confidence and when do have to chase the game at some point down the line. there will be the belief we can do it.
we have a nice little nucleus of a youthful side. we need another CM to play alongside Partey as AMN doesnt seem to be the option there. then we need to build depth in the squad that could be tricky, as the youngsters are doing the business so although they cant play every week you want to build the team around them. so options to bring in senior players would have an expectation to play.
anyway arteta has survived the season now and he probably get the summer and depends how we start next season.