"I do not regret; it is what it is" - Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta defends his decision to play Thomas Partey in defeat against Liverpool

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has defended his decision to bring on Thomas Partey during their Carabao Cup semi-final against Liverpool.

Second-half substitute Partey was sent off after just 16 minutes on the pitch as the Gunners lost 2-0 in the second leg at the Emirates last night (20 January). The result meant their commendable 0-0 draw in the first leg at Anfield last week amounted to nothing as Liverpool progressed to the Carabao Cup final.

Aaaand there it is. Thomas Partey flies back to London from AFCON, gets straight into a cab to the Emirates and gets sent off 15 minutes after coming on.

Glorious. twitter.com/paddypower/sta…

After the game, Arteta was questioned about his decision to play Partey in this fixture. The Ghanian had played for his country at the African Cup of Nations in a 3-2 loss against Comoros less than 72 hours ago. Having only returned to London just yesterday, Partey clearly looked tired and leggy with Arsenal chasing the game at 2-0 down.

Arteta responded by saying (as quoted by Metro):

"I do not regret, but I cannot use him now. It is what it is. He made the effort to come, we had to play him."

Partey came on for Emile Smith Rowe in the 74th minute. He picked up his first caution in the 87th minute before a second yellow in the last minute of regulation time reduced Arsenal to 10 men. Arteta defended his decision, stating that Smith Rowe needed rest having just returned from injury. The Spanish tactician said:

"Emile [Smith Rowe] has not had one single training session, Martin [Odegaard]as well, Laca [Alexandre Lacazette] had a yellow card. We had to make a decision and we decided to use him and unfortunately that happened."

Arsenal set to go without silverware once again

Arsenal were marginal favorites heading into the tie at the Emirates with the likes of Smith Rowe, Martin Odegaard and Takehiro Tomiyasu back in the team. Liverpool themselves were without key goalscorers Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, which saw them perform poorly at Anfield.

However, Jurgen Klopp's side seized the initiative in hostile territory and stung the Gunners twice through Diogo Jota. Trent Alexander-Arnold got both assists as the Reds dumped Arteta's side out of the tournament and set up a summit clash against Chelsea.

Defeat in the #CarabaoCup semi-final

🔴 0-2 🟡 (FT) https://t.co/r6NW0oMqAR

Arsenal are now almost guaranteed to go a second consecutive season without any major silverware. The north London outfit exited the FA Cup prematurely in the third round against Nottingham Forrest earlier this month. They have also had no European football this season and are 21 points behind leaders Manchester City in the Premier League.

Arteta will now have to rally his troops to fight for a top-four finish, starting with their league encounter against Burnley this weekend.