Mikel Arteta says he will hold talks with Thomas Partey over his Arsenal future, with his contract set to expire at the end of the season, reports metro.co.uk.

After a difficult and injury-stricken campaign in 2023/24, Partey is enjoying somewhat of a mini-revival this season, starting all of Arsenal’s Premier League and Champions League games so far.

In fact, he has already played more league minutes this season (799) than he did in the entirely of last season (789).

The defensive midfielder has helped fill the void left by injured captain Martin Odegaard, while his versatility has also proved very handy, deputising at right-back at times due to the absences of Ben White, Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Having fallen down the pecking order it was expected that Partey would leave the Emirates over the summer, especially following the arrival of Mikel Merino, but there was a lack of transfer interest in him.

With his contract up next summer, this could be his last season in north London, but off the back of his good start Arteta says the Ghana international could extend his stay.
“The one thing that we needed was Thomas to be at the level we wanted certainly,” the Gunners boss said in his press conference ahead of the trip to Newcastle today.
‘‘He’s working so hard to do what he’s doing at the moment, and I think he’s playing really well in different positions with different demands and he’s coping with it in a great way.

‘‘He’s a big player for us. He’s only 31 and he’s in a really good place and yeah, we’ll have discussions (over his contract).”
Partey joined Arsenal in 2020 for £45 million and to date has made 128 appearances for the club.

Excluding loanees, he is one of just two Gunners players out of contract at the end of the season alongside fellow defensive midfielder Jorginho and it seems unlikely that Arsenal will allow both to leave on a free unless a suitable replacement is signed.
Meanwhile, Arteta is hopeful Gabriel Magalhaes can play against Newcastle United, but has ruled out club captain Martin Odegaard.

The Gunners have suffered more injuries than any other Premier League clubs this season and centre-back Gabriel limped off in the second half of last Sunday’s 2-2 draw against title rivals Liverpool.

Arteta says the Brazilian has not trained this week but Friday’s session will determine if he can feature at St James’ Park.

“Yes, it’s good news on Gabriel,” Arteta said at his pre-match press conference.
“We have a training session today. If he can complete that he will be available. He hasn’t had any training session yet but if he’s able to do that today he will be available in the squad.”

Arteta added that summer signing Riccardo Calafiori and captain Odegaard are “out”, while Ben White’s availability is uncertain. Meanwhile, Takehiro Tomiyasu is not expected to be available before this month’s international break.
“Riccy and Martin are out, definitely. With Ben we don’t know yet. He could not train so let’s see what happens.”

On injuries this season, the Spaniard added: “Unfortunately a lot of things happened that we didn’t plan for.
“I was suspecting with the size of the squad we had that we’d have to be very adaptable during the season and that’s something we work on from day one in pre-season. But not to be that adaptable in certain scenarios.

“For sure the team showed an incredible capacity to compete, to be better than the opponent in many moments. But it’s true that very early in the second half happened that affected the rest but we are there.”

Asked if Odegaard is close to returning, Arteta replied: “Now is the stage he’s going to start to do certain work with us. Let’s see how he deals with pain, is his movement natural enough? He’s physically at the level that requires him to compete.
“With the work rate and hours he’s put in I’d be surprised if the moment he starts training with us we don’t say, ‘He looks ready’. Hopefully soon.”

Arsenal face Newcastle in the early kick-off today and victory would see them go one point behind Liverpool and two off champions Manchester City, who both play at 3.00 pm today.
“The league position after nine games is tricky,” Arteta said of the Magpies. “When you see the fixtures they have, and the situations they’ve been through as well.
“But they are a fantastic team, really well coached. They are super intense, great stadium to play in. Looking forward (to it).”

Ethan Nwaneri could pick up some minutes against Eddie Howe’s side after his screamer against Preston in the Carabao Cup.