Crystal Palace were enjoying a mini-renaissance under returning manager Roy Hodgson having won three of their previous four games, whilst scoring nine goals.
Ahead of a London derby against West Ham this weekend, the 75-year-old boss made four changes for his side’s trip to Molineux last night.
This included a complete reshuffle of midfield that saw Will Hughes, Luka Milivojevic, and Albert Sambi Lokonga all begin the encounter.
However, the Eagles suffered a disappointing defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers, which sees the Midlands outfit now level on points with them.
Ruben Neves and Mario Lemina were allowed to dictate proceedings throughout the evening and the Arsenal loanee Lokonga, who was making a rare start, failed to repay his manager’s faith.
The 23-year-old made a weak and unsubstantiated case to be included in the next lineup.
How did Lokonga perform against Wolves?
The one-cap international moved to Palace on the deadline day of the January transfer window to secure regular minutes and consistency at a fellow Premier League side.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Lokonga revealed his excitement at the move due to the similarities of philosophies between Patrick Vieira and Mikel Arteta.
He said: “I think they’re both looking to create free men on the pitch. “This is something that you can see quickly, so I will say that’s the main thing of Arteta and Vieira.”
Since then, the Frenchman has been dismissed, but Hodgson has retained his trust in the player, portrayed by the fact he started against a direct rival.
Whilst The Athletic's Matt Woosnam pointed out he "isn’t a combative midfielder", Lokonga was tasked with replacing Jeffrey Schlupp to provide a box-to-box midfield link for the South London outfit.
However, he produced an anonymous cameo and failed to meaningfully influence proceedings.
The youngster only managed 27 touches, which included no key passes, no accurate crosses or long balls and no successful dribbles, highlighting his deficiencies on the ball.
The £50k-per-week ace also failed to contribute to the defensive effort by failing to register any interceptions or tackles, winning 0 duels in a lightweight display physically.
As a result of this underwhelming display, the Belgian was hooked after 65 minutes and replaced by the more dominant Schlupp.
Since Lokonga moved to the Eagles, the loanee has only averaged a measly 0.1 key passes and 0.1 dribbles per 90, whilst Schlupp rates at 0.6 and 0.9 for the same metrics, according to WhoScored.
Whilst it has been recognised that Lokonga isn't a tough-tackling, defensive-minded pivot, he isn't excelling at his supposed strengths and is failing to provide the link between the midfield and the attack.
His move away from Arsenal would have thus far failed to excite Arteta, and he looks a million miles away from nailing down a consistent starting spot at the Emirates next season.