London [United Kingdom], May 12 : Ahead of Arsenal's return to Premier League action against one of the most impressive Premier League teams this season Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, Thomas Partey believes that it will be a difficult game for the Gunners.
Though Brighton will go into the Arsenal clash on the back of a 1-5 defeat to Everton, Partey advised caution over complacency.
Under their new manager Roberto De Zerbi, Brighton have looked more dangerous and a potential threat to teams who are looking to secure European football for next season. Their possession play and counter-attacking have improved drastically and this could prove to be a challenge for the Gunners in the hunt for their first Premier League title in 20 years.
"You can see [Brighton] play good football and their mentality is strong. They never give up. I think it will be a very difficult game because they want to keep the ball, and we want to keep the ball so we have to be good at doing that and stronger in recovering the ball and keeping it," Thomas Partey said as quoted by www.arsenal.com.
"Any team that likes to dominate play has their own weaknesses. You'll have to see after the game how we will try to hurt them but we are training a lot on that. Every team that is good have their weaknesses but we will try and explore that, play as we know how to play and we'll be able to beat them," he added.
The Gunners and the Seagulls have faced each other twice in the 2022/23 season so far. In their Premier League encounter Arsenal emerged victorious with a 4-2 victory at the Falmer Stadium. While in their second encounter in the EFL Cup, Brighton got their revenge by securing a 3-1 victory.
This time, both teams will be looking to push for a victory as Brighton are currently three points away from a European competition spot and Arsenal are one point away from reclaiming the top spot. In this crucial fixture, mentality will play a crucial role as both teams try to clinch three points.
"When a team has that mentality I think it's hard to stop them," he said. "But I believe in our qualities and I believe in every player. When you win games, you have a better chance of winning the next one because your confidence level is high, so we have to try and be ourselves and try and play the Arsenal way. Whenever we do that, we are able to beat any team," Partey added.
Arsenal will have an edge against the visitors with a greater depth in their squad. Their manager Mikel Arteta will have the option of putting out the best possible playing eleven among all the players.
"The competition is very good as anytime you don't do well, someone can take your place. It pushes every player to be on top, so I think you have more chance of getting the best out of every player with rotation, and I believe it's part of the game. We have to stick together and put our minds on one objective," he added.
"In football, you have to always be ready to be at the top and I think the mentality of this squad is that we have to try and finish as high as possible. We have to get better and push ourselves to get the best out of each other as that will make the team stronger, and keep fighting for everything that we want," Partey signed off saying.
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