Europa League - Group B
Rapid ViennaRapid Vienna1ArsenalArsenal2

Rapid Vienna 1-2 Arsenal: Gunners boss Mikel Arteta praises 'fantastic' Thomas Partey

By Gary RoseBBC Sport
Thomas Partey
Partey, right, was given his first start since joining Arsenal on deadline day

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said there is more to come from "fantastic" Thomas Partey after the midfielder's superb full debut in the 2-1 Europa League win at Rapid Vienna.

David Luiz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored two goals in five second-half minutes after a Bernd Leno mistake had gifted Taxiarchis Fountas the opener to ensure the Gunners began Group B with a victory.

But it was the performance of £45m deadline day signing Partey that stood out. The former Atletico Madrid player was a calm presence in midfield, breaking down attacks and building play with apparently effortless ease.

It was only Partey's second appearance in an Arsenal shirt after a late cameo in the 1-0 defeat by Manchester City in the Premier League at the weekend, and Arteta is excited by what is to come from the Ghana international.

"I think he held the midfield by himself in the second half when we were a little bit more open," said the Arsenal boss. "He started to take more chances attacking certain spaces with some players.

"I think he was fantastic and there is much more to come from him."

'The best debut ever' - pundits praise Partey

For a long time in this game, the performance of Partey was the only highlight.

The midfielder oozed class, breaking up play with well-timed tackles, getting the ball forward with calm and accurate passes and being alert to any danger posed by the hosts.

Partey made a particularly crucial intervention in the first half when he prodded the ball from under the feet of Fountas as the Rapid Vienna forward was about to shoot.

BT Sport pundit and former Manchester United and England midfielder Owen Hargreaves described it as "one of the best debuts I have ever seen".

"He is a key ingredient of what Arsenal have been missing for years," former England and Chelsea winger Karen Carney, commentating on the game for BT Sport, added.

"He has a knack of breaking up play and keeping the momentum going. He is pure class. He is versatile and tactically astute, gives more balance and is technically very good.

"He is brilliant and Arsenal fans will be overjoyed to see him in this team."

Leno errors a concern for Gunners

Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno
Since the start of the 2018-19 season, only Jordan Pickford (11) and David de Gea (nine) have made more errors leading to goals among Premier League goalkeepers in all competitions than Arsenal's Bernd Leno (eight)

After a tight first half in which chances were few and far between, the hosts took the lead after a big error by Leno. The goalkeeper's attempted pass was intercepted by Fountas, who then fired home from a tight angle.

Another error by Leno almost gifted the Austrians a second when he hit a clearance straight at Fountas, but he was able to recover and parry the striker's effort.

Arsenal lacked quality in the final third as they struggled to open up the hosts but found their bite when Aubameyang came off the bench.

Luiz put Arsenal level when he headed in Nicolas Pepe's free-kick and Aubameyang secured the win when he tapped in from Hector Bellerin's excellent assist.

Leno still looked nervous dealing with passes back to him and another poor clearance hit Luiz and deflected to Fountas, but this time Rapid Vienna's top scorer could not capitalise.

But despite those mistakes, Arteta is not considering giving up on playing out from the back.

He added: "In a split second you have to make a decision, you have to make the right touch and the right pass. The opponents as well are intuitive and they are waiting for that.

"It's something we have to keep working on because we want to play the way I want to. It's necessary that I keep using both in our build-up play."

Luiz oldest since Campbell - the stats

  • Arsenal have won their opening group game in each of the past four Europa League campaigns.
  • This was Rapid Vienna's first home defeat in the group stages of the Europa League since October 2012, ending their 13-game unbeaten run on home soil in the group stages of the competition.
  • David Luiz (33 years add 183 days) made his 50th appearance for Arsenal in all competitions and became the oldest player to score for the Gunners in major European competition since Sol Campbell against FC Porto in the Champions League back in February 2010 (35 years and 152 days).
  • Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored 12 goals in 19 Europa League appearances for Arsenal.
  • Hector Bellerin has provided three assists in his last three games for Arsenal, more than he had in his previous 38 matches for the Gunners (two).
  • Thomas Partey became the first Ghanaian to start a competitive game for Arsenal since Emmanuel Frimpong in their 7-5 victory at Reading in October 2012.

What next?

Arsenal return to Premier League action on Sunday, 25 October (19:15 BST) when they host Leicester City.

Player of the match

ParteyThomas Partey

with an average of 8.19

Rapid Vienna

  1. Squad number9Player nameFountas
    Average rating

    5.92

  2. Squad number8Player nameRitzmaier
    Average rating

    5.09

  3. Squad number36Player nameArase
    Average rating

    5.06

  4. Squad number29Player nameKara
    Average rating

    4.92

  5. Squad number28Player nameKnasmüllner
    Average rating

    4.80

  6. Squad number22Player nameStojkovic
    Average rating

    4.78

  7. Squad number1Player nameStrebinger
    Average rating

    4.73

  8. Squad number39Player nameLjubicic
    Average rating

    4.64

  9. Squad number32Player nameKitagawa
    Average rating

    4.64

  10. Squad number13Player nameSchick
    Average rating

    4.63

  11. Squad number4Player nameBarac
    Average rating

    4.61

  12. Squad number20Player nameHofmann
    Average rating

    4.61

  13. Squad number31Player nameUllmann
    Average rating

    4.58

  14. Squad number14Player nameGrahovac
    Average rating

    4.57

Arsenal

  1. Squad number18Player namePartey
    Average rating

    8.19

  2. Squad number14Player nameAubameyang
    Average rating

    7.79

  3. Squad number6Player nameGabriel Magalhães
    Average rating

    7.40

  4. Squad number2Player nameBellerín
    Average rating

    6.92

  5. Squad number23Player nameDavid Luiz
    Average rating

    6.78

  6. Squad number25Player nameMohamed Elneny
    Average rating

    6.76

  7. Squad number7Player nameSaka
    Average rating

    6.74

  8. Squad number3Player nameTierney
    Average rating

    6.60

  9. Squad number19Player namePépé
    Average rating

    6.54

  10. Squad number9Player nameLacazette
    Average rating

    6.08

  11. Squad number24Player nameNelson
    Average rating

    5.86

  12. Squad number28Player nameWillock
    Average rating

    5.83

  13. Squad number31Player nameKolasinac
    Average rating

    5.76

  14. Squad number30Player nameNketiah
    Average rating

    5.59

  15. Squad number17Player nameCédric Soares
    Average rating

    5.41

  16. Squad number1Player nameLeno
    Average rating

    4.06

Line-ups

Rapid Vienna

Formation 5-3-2

  • 1Strebinger
  • 36AraseBooked at 60minsSubstituted forSchickat 79'minutes
  • 22Stojkovic
  • 20Hofmann
  • 4Barac
  • 31Ullmann
  • 39Ljubicic
  • 14GrahovacBooked at 15mins
  • 8RitzmaierBooked at 69minsSubstituted forKnasmüllnerat 88'minutes
  • 29KaraBooked at 63minsSubstituted forKitagawaat 76'minutes
  • 9Fountas

Substitutes

  • 6Sonnleitner
  • 13Schick
  • 16Petrovic
  • 19Alar
  • 21Unger
  • 25Gartler
  • 28Knasmüllner
  • 30Greiml
  • 32Kitagawa
  • 37Sulzbacher
  • 40Ibrahimoglu
  • 43Savic

Arsenal

Formation 4-3-3

  • 1LenoBooked at 90mins
  • 17Cédric SoaresSubstituted forBellerínat 61'minutes
  • 23David Luiz
  • 6Gabriel
  • 31Kolasinac
  • 25Elneny
  • 18ParteyBooked at 34mins
  • 7SakaSubstituted forTierneyat 84'minutes
  • 19PépéSubstituted forNelsonat 90+4'minutes
  • 9LacazetteBooked at 27minsSubstituted forWillockat 84'minutes
  • 30NketiahBooked at 37minsSubstituted forAubameyangat 61'minutes

Substitutes

  • 2Bellerín
  • 3Tierney
  • 13Rúnarsson
  • 14Aubameyang
  • 15Maitland-Niles
  • 20Mustafi
  • 24Nelson
  • 28Willock
  • 33Macey
  • 34Xhaka
Referee:
Pavel Královec
Attendance:
3,000

Match Stats

Home TeamRapid ViennaAway TeamArsenal
Possession
Home33%
Away67%
Shots
Home12
Away11
Shots on Target
Home4
Away4
Corners
Home4
Away4
Fouls
Home18
Away14

Live Text

  1. Post update

    Match ends, SK Rapid Wien 1, Arsenal 2.

  2. Full Time

    Second Half ends, SK Rapid Wien 1, Arsenal 2.

  3. Substitution

    Substitution, Arsenal. Reiss Nelson replaces Nicolas Pépé.

  4. Post update

    Offside, SK Rapid Wien. Filip Stojkovic tries a through ball, but Thorsten Schick is caught offside.

  5. Post update

    Attempt missed. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) left footed shot from a difficult angle on the left misses to the left. Assisted by Nicolas Pépé with a cross.

  6. Booking

    Bernd Leno (Arsenal) is shown the yellow card.

  7. Post update

    Sead Kolasinac (Arsenal) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  8. Post update

    Foul by Thorsten Schick (SK Rapid Wien).

  9. Substitution

    Substitution, SK Rapid Wien. Christoph Knasmüllner replaces Marcel Ritzmaier.

  10. Post update

    Foul by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal).

  11. Post update

    Maximilian Hofmann (SK Rapid Wien) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  12. Post update

    Attempt blocked. David Luiz (Arsenal) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Nicolas Pépé with a cross.

  13. Post update

    Corner, Arsenal. Conceded by Maximilian Hofmann.

  14. Substitution

    Substitution, Arsenal. Joseph Willock replaces Alexandre Lacazette.

  15. Substitution

    Substitution, Arsenal. Kieran Tierney replaces Bukayo Saka.

  16. Post update

    David Luiz (Arsenal) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  17. Post update

    Foul by Marcel Ritzmaier (SK Rapid Wien).

  18. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Marcel Ritzmaier (SK Rapid Wien) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.

  19. Post update

    Attempt missed. Nicolas Pépé (Arsenal) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left.

  20. Post update

    Sead Kolasinac (Arsenal) wins a free kick on the left wing.

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