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Declan Rice was dismissed from Arsenal’s Premier League match against Brighton after kicking the ball away as Joel Veltman was about to take a free kick for the visitors.
Kai Havertz’s opening goal had sent the Gunners into the lead and the score was 1-0 when Rice was shown the red card early in the second half of the 1-1 draw.
Rice had previously arrived late with a tackle on Veltman in the first half which saw him clip the defender’s leg and earn a first yellow of the match.
Just before the incident, Veltman had been awarded a free kick deep in his own half and looked to take the set piece quickly.
Rice nudged the ball away just as the Brighton man took the kick and he followed through to hitting Rice on the leg.
The game was stopped and the referee decided that kicking the ball away was the initial offence and Rice was at fault.
On TNT Sports, commentator Ally McCoist attempted to make sense of the decision and claimed that Veltman was lucky not to receive the booking instead.
“No complaints at all [on the first yellow card for Rice]. I think Veltman’s lucky, I really do. I don’t know what Declan Rice is meant to do.
“It looked like it was a kick-out at him. I think Joel Veltman is lucky to stay on the pitch with his kick out. By the letter of the law he’s kicked the ball away, it doesn’t matter if he kicks the ball away 20-yards or six inches.”
Following Rice’s dismissal, Brighton equalised in the 58th minute through Joao Pedro as Arsenal played on with 10-men. This match was Rice’s 245th Premier League appearance, and the first time he has been sent off in the competition.
Peter Crouch said that Veltman hoodwinked the referee in order to convince him to dismiss Rice. Speaking as a pundit on TNT Sports former Liverpool striker Crouch was convinced that Veltman had bought an offence from Rice which changed the outcome of the match.
“Everyone who’s played football understands what’s happened there,” said Crouch, “Veltman’s quite simply played the referee, there’s no way he’s trying to play a pass 60-yards to nobody, he’s trying to get Declan Rice into trouble, he knows he’s on a yellow card and it’s worked.
“That’s been the difference in the game.”
Mikel Arteta was “amazed” by the decision of Chris Kavanagh to show Declan Rice the first red card of his career and insisted it changed the game after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Brighton.
Arsenal looked on course for all three points when Kai Havertz put them ahead in the 38th minute, but Rice received his marching orders 11 minutes later.
Referee Kavanagh showed Rice a second yellow card after the England international subtly kicked away the ball from a Brighton free-kick by the corner flag to delay the restart.
No caution was given to Joel Veltman, who caught Rice in his follow through, and Arsenal failed to hold on with 10-men as Joao Pedro equalised with 58 minutes played and it ended 1-1 in front of a fired up Emirates Stadium crowd.
Arteta bemoaned Kavanagh’s decision and appeared to suggest Pedro, who was later cautioned, should have been given a yellow card in the 18th minute when he kicked the ball away after it had gone out for a throw.
“I was amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be,” Arteta reflected.
“In the first half, there are two incidents and nothing happens. Then, in a non-critical area, the ball hits Declan, he turns around, he doesn’t see the player coming and he touches the ball.
“By law, he can make that call, but then by law he needs to make the next call, which is red card so we play 10 vs 10. This is what amazed me. At this level it’s amazing.”
Includes reporting from PA
