Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey has apologised to the club’s fans after he was sent off in the team’s 2-0 League Cup defeat against Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday.
The 28-year-old had just arrived from Cameroon where he was representing Ghana in the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations and was immediately drafted in to start from the bench by manager Mikel Arteta.
The Black Stars did not qualify for the Round of 16 after finishing bottom of Group C without a win. He was introduced for the game against Liverpool in place of Emile Smith Rowe in the 74th minute with the Gunners trailing 1-0 courtesy of Diego Jota's first-half goal.
However, he suffered three minutes of heartbreak as he was booked twice and Jota grabbed the second to help Liverpool qualify for the final where they will face Chelsea.
Partey has taken to his Instagram to take responsibility for his mistake after coming on.
“I am responsible for anything that happened and will take all the critiques,” the former Atletico Madrid player wrote. “I should be more intelligent not to get in a challenge already booked but this is my personality. I like to fight for every ball.
“I love this club and I love my country even though things sometimes don't happen how I wanted. I would continue to work harder and make things right.
“I came back with the mentality to make myself available for the team to get to the final but it did not happen as planned. I will continue to give my all when I am on the field of play because this is my life and this is what I chose to do.
“I am not happy with all that happened yesterday [Thursday] and at the Afcon but I understand only with hard work things will change so I will continue to work hard to change this. Thanks.”
In an earlier interview, Arsenal manager Arteta said he does not regret involving Partey in the league cup defeat.
“I don't regret, [playing Partey] I cannot use him now, it is what it is. He made an effort to come, we had to play him,” Arteta said.
“Emile [Smith Rowe] has not had one single training session, Martin [Odegaard] as well, [Alexandre Lacazette] had a yellow card. We had to make a decision and we decided to use him and unfortunately, that happened.
“I don't think [fatigue] played a part in the red card]. We have played the last three games with 10 men. At this level, that's extremely difficult to win football matches.
“We'll keep trying to do what we do, but there have been some decisions that haven't happened going the other way. [Thursday was] a good example as well.”
The red card will see Partey miss Arsenal’s next league fixture against Burnley at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
