Thomas Partey admits he needs to be “more intelligent” after he was sent off during Arsenal’s Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Liverpool.
Diogo Jota’s brace sealed a 2-0 win for the Reds, who will face Chelsea in the final at Wembley on February 27.
Partey flew back from the Africa Cup of Nations following Ghana’s exit and landed in London on the afternoon of the Liverpool clash, declaring himself available as he was named on the Arsenal bench.
He came on with the game in the balance but, after Jota had struck again, the combative midfielder was booked twice in quick succession and received his marching orders just 16 minutes after his introduction.
“I am responsible for anything that happened and will take all the critiques, 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,” Partey wrote on his Instagram stories.
“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 team (sic) to get to the final but it did not happen as planed (sic).
Defeat in the #CarabaoCup semi-final— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 20, 2022
“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’m not happy with all that happened yesterday 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.”
Partey’s dismissal was the 14th red card issued to an Arsenal player under Mikel Arteta’s tenure, six more than any other Premier League side across all competitions in that time.
It was also the third sending off in Arsenal’s last four matches and is something Arteta knows needs to be addressed.
Asked how big an issue it is becoming, he said: “It is because it’s happened for different reasons. We have to eradicate that completely.
“We want to be competitive, we want to be winning matches and having a good sequence of matches again, we have to stay with 11 players.”
Partey will now be banned for Sunday’s clash with bottom side Burnley, with fellow midfielder Granit Xhaka also serving the second of a two-match suspension having been sent off in the goalless first leg against Liverpool.
