'Fantastic' Thomas Partey stars for Arsenal as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scores Europa League winner – in pictures

Gunners manager is full of praise for Ghana international on his full debut after unconvincing victory over Rapid Vienna

Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates after scoring the winning goal at Rapid Vienna in their Europa League Group B match on Thursday, October 22. Getty

Thomas Partey made his full debut for Arsenal in Vienna. Reuters

Rapid's Maximilian Ullmann is challenged by Hector Bellerin of Arsenal. Getty

Arsenal defender David Luiz heads home to level the scores. AFP

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta. EPA

Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates scoring their second goal with Hector Bellerin. Reuters

Arsenal's Alexandre Lacazette is tackled by Filip Stojkovic of Rapid Vienna. Getty

Taxiarchis Fountas of Rapid Vienna. EPA

Arsenal's David Luiz , second right, celebrates his goal. AFP

Taxiarchis Fountas finishes past Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno to give Rapid Vienna the lead. EPA

Rapid Vienna's player celebrate Taxiarchis Fountas' goal. AFP

Arsenal's David Luiz. Reuters

Arsenal's David Luiz scores his sides first goal. Getty

Arsenal's Thomas Partey. Reuters

Arsenal's Bernd Leno and David Luiz look dejected after Rapid's goal. Reuters

Mikel Arteta heaped praise on Thomas Partey after he impressed on his full Arsenal debut in their comeback Europa League win over Rapid Vienna but insists there is much more to come from the deadline day signing.

Partey's performance was a highlight on what was an average night for the Gunners in Austria, as goals from David Luiz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saw them win 2-1 after Bernd Leno's error had gifted the hosts a second-half lead.

The 27-year-old Ghana international had been a long-term target for Arsenal before they finally landed their man from Atletico Madrid in the closing hours of the transfer window.

He made his debut off the bench in Saturday's Premier League defeat at Manchester City but was comfortable from the outset on his first start.

"To be fair he looked really solid, really comfortable," Arteta said after his side won their Group B opener.

"I think he held the midfield by himself in the second half as well when we were a little bit more open and we started to take more chances attacking certain spaces with some players.

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

"Obviously, we know that with the price that we paid for him and the profile that he has, he is going to have a lot of people looking at him in every single game.

"But it's about the structure we have as a team, the flow, the unity and the cohesion that we need in our team and he is one piece of that. Hopefully he is a big piece."

Arsenal were poor for the first hour of the game, culminating with Leno presenting possession to the opposition as he looked to play out from the back and Taxiarchis Fountas putting Rapid ahead.

Leno's confidence was clearly knocked and he made two further mistakes that, fortunately for Arsenal, did not lead to goals.

Instead they rallied and struck twice in four minutes, Luiz heading in a Nicolas Pepe free-kick before Aubameyang – who came off the bench 13 minutes earlier – combined with fellow substitute Hector Bellerin to turn home a 74th-minute winner from close range.

After the game, Arteta defended Leno and says his side playing out from defence is a tactic that is here to stay.

"We made it a little bit harder with some decisions we made and the goal we conceded, which if anything is obviously my fault because I demand that we do those things," he said.

"It is a part of our game model. We need to understand when we can do it and when we should kick the ball to the stand.

"He [Leno] has the courage to do it, we have been very successful at doing it as well with the amount of goals we have scored even in important games.

"They will understand better and better the type of balls that we have to play in those areas and in relation to where the pressure is coming and the type of distances you can manage from the opponent.

"It is something we have to keep working on because if we want to play the way I want to, it is necessary that the goalkeeper is involved in our build-up play."