Underfire Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is confident Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey will see off the rest of the campaign with improved performances.
The 27-year-old, who joined from Atletivo Madrid last summer has struggled with injuries despite a good start to his career in England.
Last Sunday, Partey showed glimpses of quality, providing a tailored measured pass for Arsenal third goal in the victory over Sheffield United.
“Hopefully we will see the best version of Thomas against Slavia Prague next week,” said Arteta.
“Now that he has got a sequence of two or three games I think we’ll see him finishing the season in a really strong way.”
The Black Stars midfielder has twice been on the sidelines due to injuries, leaving Arsenal fans worried over the huge investment in the player.
“It’s very difficult to make a proper assessment of Thomas’ performances so far because he has missed six months and that is a long time,” added Arteta.
“He is still adapting to our way of playing, which is different to what he did at Atletico, but we can all see what he brings to the team.
“It’s about him finding the level of consistency that we need from him because he has the capacity that we can build a team that can play around him.
“The biggest difficulty he has had so far is that he has not been fit. Then every time he recovered, he missed the next game.
“He has not had time to prepare himself physically to play at the highest level and that has obviously had an impact because the Premier League demands real fitness.”
