Thomas Partey says “amazing” Mikel Arteta is helping him thrive at Arsenal

Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey says manager Mikel Arteta is helping him to thrive at the club.

The 27-year-old returned to the squad in their 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa at the weekend.

But there have been lots of improvement since his arrival and the Ghanaian has heaped praise on the manager for helping him to thrive at the club.

“Mikel is helping me a lot. At Atletico, I played in a similar position,” Partey said

“The system is not the same back there, you have to be well positioned to be able to go around your marker, and here Mikel is helping a lot because I remember.

“You don’t have to be in the same line and opposite the defender.

“You have time to be able to do whatever you want and this is amazing.

“It’s just as important, you need to keep it in mind and whenever your teammates have the ball, you know who you are in line with, who you are not in line with and this is helping me a lot.”

Partey also sees similarities between his old and current bosses.

He continued: “I think both of them have the same mentality, which is winning.

“Both of them want to be in control, you always have the chance to create in behind and the difference is we don’t give chances, we press high.

“We always do a high press, from the first minute to the last minute, and in Atletico sometimes you have to wait for the opposition to move around you and you hit them on the counter.”