‘Progressing really well’… £45m Arsenal player set to make Premier League return vs Newcastle on Saturday

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Arsenal have been handed a huge injury boost ahead of their game against Newcastle United in the capital this weekend.

Newcastle will travel to the Emirates with a depleted squad to face a buoyant Arsenal team who have netted 21 times in their last five games.

Speaking ahead of their Premier League clash against Burnley at the weekend, Mikel Arteta has shared that Thomas Partey has been training and is ‘progressing well’ ahead of a couple of key games.

Key Arsenal man back in action to face Newcastle

Partey has featured just four times in the league this season and is yet to play in the Champions League after suffering a hamstring injury that has kept him out of action since October.

However, the £45m midfielder has been back in training in the last week and looks to be in good condition as Arsenal face Porto tonight before returning home to host Newcastle in the league.

During the most recent fixture between these two sides winning the midfield battle was absolutely key for Newcastle who came away with all three points thanks to 1-0 victory.

Joelinton’s physical presence was huge against Kai Havertz, Jorginho and Martin Odegaard, but the Brazilian won’t be there this time and Partey’s return now swings the physicality in Arsenal’s favour.

In his press conference, Arteta said: “Thomas Partey as well is progressing really well. I don’t want to say too much but he’s looking very good and he’s on the field already.”

Newcastle must be at their best this weekend

In the last few weeks we’ve seen Newcastle scrape results against Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Luton and while their determination has been admirable, they need to be much better overall.

The Magpies have shipped nine goals in their last four fixtures, not a great record when facing the second top scorers in the league, and Martin Dubravka has really struggled to keep the ball out of the net since replacing Nick Pope.

But Eddie Howe is not one to blame injuries on the Newcastle’s bad form, though he acknowledges it is an obstacle, and will no doubt be working extremely hard on organising his defence this week to avoid an embarrassing result against Arsenal.