Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey was only on the pitch for around 15 minutes before being sent off against Liverpool – having only flown back from the Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday.
The Ghanaian International endured a miserable Arsenal comeback after jetting back from Cameroon just 48 hours after Ghana were dumped out of the Africa Cup of Nations.
The midfielder was not expected to be back in north London in time to feature in their Carabao Cup second leg against Liverpool.
But, after his national side were dumped out earlier than expected, Partey was named on the bench against Liverpool just a few hours after landing back in England.
The tie was finely balanced after the first-leg ended 0-0 at Anfield last week, in a contest that saw Granit Xhaka red-carded after just 24 minutes for Arsenal.
And Partey became the latest player to see red in the tie, picking up two yellow cards in less than ten minutes in the latter stages of Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat.
After the clash, Arteta was asked whether he regretted bringing Partey on as he faces having contend with another central midfielder suspended for their next Premier League clash.
“No,” Arteta replied. “Well I regret that I cannot use him now, but he made the effort to come and we had to play.
“He hasn’t had one single training session, Martin [Odegaard] as well, Laca [Lacazette] had a yellow card,” he claimed.
“We had to make a decision and we had to use him.”
The Arsenal boss was then asked whether Partey’s red card could be put down to a mix of fatigue and jetlag, to which Arteta simply responded, “No, I don’t think so.”
Jurgen Klopp’s side dumped Arsenal out of the competition at the last four stage courtesy of two delightfully taken Diogo Jota’s goal, but Arteta’s main concern may be what he is going to do in the middle of the park next game.
Partey woke up this morning in Cameroon, landing at Heathrow at around midday UK time before immediately heading for the team hotel.
Prior to the game, Arteta heaped praise on the 28-year-old’s commitment, claiming: “Thomas Partey has really shown his commitment, he landed at midday and wanted to be involved.”
The Arsenal boss also explained how his side was threadbare for the contest, fresh off of Sunday’s north London derby postponement.
“There are players who haven’t had any training sessions, we are pushing the players. We didn’t have anyone else,” the Spaniard insisted.
Both cards given to Partey were the result of careless defending from a midfielder experienced enough to know better.
The former Atletico Madrid man’s second tackle on Fabinho was so late it gave referee Martin Atkinson very little choice but to reach for his back pocket yet again.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have been linked with Juventus midfielder Arthur Melo for much of this January window but are yet to strike a deal due to a number of reasons.
Juventus are keen on including an option-to-buy clause in Arthur’s loan contract at Arsenal, while the Gunners would favour just a straight loan.
Arteta will be without both of his first-choice central midfielders for the visit of Burnley on Sunday through suspension, while fellow midfielder Mohamed El Neny remains at AFCON with the Egypt national team.
Sambi Lokonga is likely to keep his place in the starting line-up, but his partner in the middle of the park could well be someone not currently at the club.
