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Declan Rice describes Thomas Partey using just one word after Arsenal thrash Man City

Shamanth Jayaram

Mon 3 February 2025 5:55, UK

Arsenal picked up a memorable victory over Manchester City in the Premier League.

Mikel Arteta’s side smashed five past the defending champions to inflict one of the heaviest defeats Pep Guardiola has ever been on the end of.

Martin Odegaard opened the scoring for Arsenal but his goal was cancelled out by Erling Haaland. Thomas Partey put the Gunners back ahead almost instantly, and goals from Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri sealed an emphatic 5-1 win.

Declan Rice, who was magnificent himself, seems impressed with Partey’s performance.

Thomas Partey shines for Arsenal vs Man City

Partey returned to his natural defensive midfield role against Manchester City after playing at right-back in the Champions League game in Spain.

The Ghana international, on his day, is one of the best players in the Premier League in his position. He is absolutely top-class, and he proved his worth against the champions.

Partey was outstanding from the first minute of the game until the last.

He was calm in possession, got Arsenal out of City’s press on multiple occasions and even scored what was arguably the most important goal of the game.

Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri’s performances stole most of the plaudits, but Partey’s display should not go unnoticed. He was magnificent.

Rice, who started next to the Ghanaian, was amazed by his performance, so much so that he posted a picture of himself on his alongside Partey and wrote: “Sensational TP!”

READ MORE: Gary Neville shares how the referee helped Arsenal during 5-1 win vs Manchester City

Thomas Partey’s stats vs Man City are very impressive

Partey is 31 already and has entered the final five months of his Arsenal contract. He is expected to leave the club at the end of this campaign.

However, despite the speculation about his future, the Ghanaian produced a stunning performance against Guardiola’s men at the Emirates.

In his 90 minutes on the pitch, Partey had 64 touches of the ball and completed 45 of his 51 attempted passes, maintaining a very healthy 88 per cent passing accuracy.

The midfielder also won six of his seven ground duels, made two clearances, two interceptions and a total of five tackles in the game.

gave Partey a 7.9/10 rating for his performance – only Rice and Havertz earned a better score among everyone who played on Sunday.