"Now is not the time to drop heads" - Arsenal star Thomas Partey urges teammates to 'keep fighting' ahead of PL fixture against Manchester City

Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey has urged his teammates to keep fighting ahead of their clash against Manchester City later this week on April 26.

His comments came after the Gunners scrapped a 3-3 draw against Southampton on April 21, enabling Manchester City to take control of the title race. Arsenal have now drawn their last three Premier League games in a row and appear to be low on confidence.

Arsenal will be ruing their recent blip of form as even though they are still top of the table with 75 points, Manchester City are five points behind with two games in hand. If the Cityzens were to beat Arsenal in their upcoming clash at the Etihad, they would be favorites to win the title again.

One player who is optimistic about the Gunners' prospects is Thomas Partey. When asked about their form, he said (via Daily Mail):

"I think everything depends on us – we have to go [to City] with the mentality to play football and plays we know. And, at the end, we have to try and win."

"We have to approach it as a game in that we do everything that we did from the beginning of the season and I am sure we can win, if we do that."

He added:

"It's normal that we feel frustrated after Friday as we could have done better. We worked so hard during the week for the game. We cannot put our heads down because now is not the time to drop heads. We have to keep on fighting, we have to keep on pushing and in the end we will get better results."

Arsenal will be hoping to bounce back with a win against Manchester City. They are currently searching for their first Premier League title win in 19 years.

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Gary Neville slams Thomas Partey's decision during Arsenal draw against Southampton

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville criticized Thomas Partey's decision to shoot from distance in the game against Southampton instead of playing a pass to Martin Odegaard in extra time. This occurred when the Gunners were searching for a winner when the scores were level at 3-3.

The north London outfit were trailing 3-1 before leveling things up thanks to late goals from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard. The Gunners nearly completed the comeback, going close via Leandro Trossard and Reiss Nelson.

In their final attack, Partey had the ball but instead of playing a simple pass to Odegaard, he took a shot from 35 yards which went flying over the crossbar. This frustrated Gary Neville, who said (via METRO):

"No. The crowd is shouting no. They can’t believe he has taken that option. An experienced player like that. Absolutely crazy. Mikel Arteta will be furious with him."

Despite his poor decision, Partey has been integral in midfield for the Gunners this season. He has made 34 appearances so far, scoring three goals.