Partey set to miss Arsenal matches against Chelsea and Manchester City

Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey will miss the start of the Premier League season, including matches with Chelsea and Manchester City, due to injury.

The Ghana international suffered ankle ligament damage in the friendly loss to Chelsea last week and is not expected to return to training for three weeks.

Partey is therefore set to miss the Gunners’ league opener at Brentford on Friday, as well as the meeting with Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on August 22 and the visit to champions City six days later.

He will also miss the EFL Cup second-round match with West Brom on August 24.

Striker Eddie Nketiah, who sustained bruising to his right ankle in the Chelsea friendly, is expected to be sidelined for a month.

It remains unclear when Gabriel will return, the defender having injured his knee while representing Brazil at the Tokyo Olympics.

With Arsenal’s squad having been depleted, manager Mikel Arteta was asked on Thursday about the prospect of more signings before the transfer window closes.

The Gunners have already spent in the region of £75million to bring in Ben White from Brighton and Hove Albion, Albert Sambi Lokonga from Anderlecht and Nuno Tavares from Benfica.

They have been linked with a move for Sheffield United goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale to provide competition for Bernd Leno, and Inter forward Lautaro Martinez, but Arteta was not forthcoming on details.

“In this first period of the transfer window, I think we’ve done a few things that we wanted to do and that are going to help us get the squad in a much better place,” he told reporters.

“There is still window to go, so I’m sure things will happen in a way. I’m willing to work with the players I have at the moment and get the best out of them. We will see what we can do.

“We have ownership that they are willing to invest in the team and they want to get the team better with bigger aims. But at the same time we need to be careful because we want to be in a financial position that is sustainable for the club.”

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