Arsenal fans slam Arteta for keeping Partey on the bench in defeat to Bayern Munich

The Ghana midfielder played no minutes in the game at the Allianz Arena and watched on as the Gunners were knocked out of the competition following a 1-0 defeat.

Arteta opted for the midfield pair of Declan Rice and Jorginho and later moved Kai Havertz into a deeper role rather than bring on Partey.

Joshua Kimmich’s 63rd-minute striker would, however, condemn Arsenal to defeat and consequently end their hopes of winning the Champions League following a 3-2 aggregate loss.

Partey’s lack of game time in recent weeks has opened up conversations over whether Arteta would want to keep him beyond the current season.

The Bayern game was the second successive match where Partey was an unused substitute after he didn’t feature in last Sunday’s disappointing 2-0 loss to Aston Villa in the Premier League.

The 30-year-old has also started just one game in the last five months and only made his Champions League debut for the Gunners in the first leg of the quarter-finals against Bayern last week, which ended 2-2.

He replaced Havertz in the 86th minute and made a cameo appearance that saw him create one big chance and also receive a yellow card after stopping a promising counterattack.

Thomas Partey Pulse Ghana

Partey has been injured for much of the season and only recovered in March, which caused him to ask to be excused from Ghana’s squad for the friendlies against Nigeria and Uganda.

Having been an unused substitute in the second leg against Bayern, some Arsenal fans took to social media to blast Arteta over the decision to completely leave the midfielder out of such a crucial game.

Here are some of the reactions: