Mikel Arteta has already completed transfer mission amid latest Thomas Partey injury

If Arsenal ever wanted proof of how much they've evolved recently then their 3-1 victory over Manchester United was it.

364 days prior they had come up against United on a sunny September afternoon without Thomas Partey. On that occasion they were punished brutally in a 3-1 defeat as Albert Sambi Lokonga tried and failed to replicate what the Ghanaian offers. Partey's status as the most irreplaceable member was reaffirmed.

Almost exactly a year later the conditions seemed prime for history to repeat itself. The sun was shining on a September Sunday, the world was watching as Arsenal took on United and once again Partey was absent. Those fears though, were legacies of the past. This time around, we saw the future.

Of course Declan Rice's late goal was the headline grabber, but the England midfielder's sublime overall display showed Arsenal fans exactly what they've got to look forward to. «I think a tremendous performance,» said Mikel Arteta leading the chorus of glowing reviews for Arsenal's £105million man. «When you look at how a holding midfielder needs to dominate his area, how he needs to break up play, how he glided the team together when they were stretched a bit. Then he produced a magic moment to win us the game.»

Arteta would also go on to confirm that Partey is set to miss «weeks» with an injury sustained in training. Many have viewed this as something Arsenal should be afraid of. With all due respect to the Ghanaian though, it is instead arguably one of the most exciting times in the club's recent history.

Much of Arsenal's transfer business has been about moving on from Partey. You could argue that the wheels were in motion when they signed Jorginho in January, but at 31-years-of-age the Italian was only ever