Arsenal reporter Charles Watts criticised midfielder Thomas Partey for his role in Manchester City's opening goal at the Etihad on Wednesday evening.

What did Watts say about Partey?

The Gunners travelled to City looking to end their three-game run without a win in the Premier League and continue their push for the title, with Mikel Arteta giving Partey the nod once again in a three-man midfield alongside captain Martin Odegaard and Granit Xhaka.However, things didn't go to plan for the visitors, who found themselves a goal down early on after Kevin de Bruyne's early effort. John Stones doubled the home side's advantage just before the interval, with De Bruyne netting his second and City's third shortly after the restart and Erling Haaland scoring a fourth in injury time.Partey, who was making his 35th appearance of the season in all competitions, was criticised for his part in the opener, with centre-back Rob Holding also slammed in the media for his display, despite scoring a consolation goal late on.Watts took to Twitter to describe Partey's tracking of De Bruyne's run as "horrendous", adding that Aaron Ramsdale should also have done better with the shot. Members of the media also felt that Partey put in an "embarrassing performance" on the whole for a "fourth game in a row".

How was Partey's performance?

It was certainly an evening to forget for the Gunners, with City now just two points behind the league leaders with two games in hand.As per SofaScore, Partey ended with a match rating of 6.7/10, slightly above Arsenal's player average of 6.48/10. The Ghanaian gave away possession on six occasions, committed three fouls and picked up a yellow card. However, he did make two tackles, registered a key pass, won eight of his 13 duels and completed 100% of his attempted dribbles.It wasn't a performance to shout about, but he did outperform a number of his teammates, but his action in City's opener is what led to plenty criticism from Watts.