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If one thing summed up an anti-climatic night for Arsenal it was the late red card for Thomas Partey which neutralised the reasons for rushing him home for Africa and made Mikel Arteta fume.
Partey was named among the substitutes against Liverpool just 48 hours after playing for Ghana in the Africa Cup of Nations and touching down in London at midday on Thursday, less than eight hours before kick-off.
Having left the equatorial climes of Cameroon behind, Partey sat on the bench swaddled in multiple layers clothing as temperatures dipped towards zero, until summoned in the closing stages.
Thomas Partey (left) was shown two yellow cards just minutes apart against Liverpool
Partey had come on for Alexandre Lacazette but lasted less that 20 minutes on the pitch
He came on in the 74th minute to replace Emile Smith Rowe, performed as if suffering from jet lag, collected two yellow cards in three minutes, the second for a late tackle on Fabinho, and was ordered off by referee Martin Atkinson.
'It is a big loss,' groaned Arteta. 'We can't afford to be without him with the players we have out.
'We have to learn from that. We have played three games with 10 men recently and against top sides
