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.