Arsenal’s latest Premier League title bid suffered a potential early setback as Declan Rice was controversially sent off for the first time in his top-flight career in a dramatic 1-1 draw with Brighton.

The England midfielder was shown a second yellow card for delaying the restart after fouling Joel Veltman early in the second half at the Emirates Stadium, with Mikel Arteta’s side leading 1-0 at the time thanks to Kai Havertz’s fine lofted finish set up by Bukayo Saka, who left Lewis Dunk red-faced.

Rice had already been booked in the first half for flying into a challenge on Veltman and then received his marching orders from referee Chris Kavanagh, having appeared to nudge the ball away as the Dutchman - who had knocked it into the foot of Rice initially - went to take a quick free-kick after being fouled and ended up clattering Rice instead, with many home fans expecting Veltman to be the one in trouble.

Rice - who had previously gone 244 Premier League appearances without ever seeing red - will now serve a one-match suspension and miss the north London derby trip to Tottenham following the first international break of the season, but will be back for the huge showdown with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium that now comes after the start of Arsenal’s campaign in the new-look Champions League away to Europa League holders Atalanta in Italy.

Arsenal were already without new signing Mikel Merino for that clash with Spurs as he watched on from the stands on Saturday with his arm in a sling, having been ruled out for a number of weeks after suffering a shoulder injury in his very first training session at London Colney on Thursday.

Raheem Sterling was another interested spectator at the Emirates having joined on loan from Chelsea in the early hours of Saturday morning, following Arsenal’s deadline day swoop for Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto.

Neither were eligible to play so soon as Arteta - still without Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu - made only one change to the team that beat Aston Villa, with Leandro Trossard preferred to Gabriel Martinelli in attack against his former club as the late summer departures of the likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson left Arsenal with a youthful bench featuring Tommy Setford, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri and Salah-Eddine Oulad M'Hand.

Brighton made their man advantage count just nine minutes after Rice’s contentious dismissal through Joao Pedro, who followed up his last-gasp winner against Manchester United last weekend by tucking the rebound under David Raya after Dunk had made amends for his earlier error by playing a perfect pass to release Yankuba Minteh, who had got in behind William Saliba and shrugged off Gabriel before seeing an effort parried by the goalkeeper.

Arsenal’s 10 men were being put under severe pressure with the game completely and suddenly turned on its head, with Minteh and Kaoru Mitoma both causing plenty of problems along with Pedro.

Former Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck almost connected with Mitoma’s low cross before Havertz spurned a brilliant chance to restore the lead against the odds, denied by Bart Verbruggen after beating Jan Paul van Hecke.

Raya made a solid stop from Yasin Ayari, an early injury replacement for James Milner, before Arsenal created another great opportunity on the counter-attack, Saka - who stayed on his feet when he might have gone down and got a penalty - only able to pick out Verbruggen on the stretch after a cross by Havertz.

Arsenal received another blow as Jurrien Timber went off late on, but they dug in for a hard-earned point after Carlos Baleba, Georginio Rutter and Pervis Estupinan all failed to hit the target during final periods of Brighton pressure.

Arsenal now head into the international break having dropped points for the first time this season in their third game after opening 2-0 wins over Wolves and Aston Villa, with trips to Tottenham, Atalanta and Manchester City all coming up in a pivotal week next month.

Brighton may eventually have been disappointed not to come away with another win against 10 men, but a draw continues their impressive start to life under new head coach Fabian Hurzeler, following back-to-back victories over Everton and Manchester United and progress into the third round of the Carabao Cup.

It had been a truly dominant start from Arsenal, who applied wave after wave of their own pressure straight from the first whistle as Saka gave young makeshift full-back Jack Hinshelwood a torrid time.

Brighton’s penalty box was quickly under siege, with goalkeeper Verbruggen - preferred to Jason Steele for his first Premier League start of the season as Baleba also replaced Billy Gilmour, who joined Napoli on deadline day - called into action to deny the dangerous Saka early before also smothering a side-footed effort from Saka after a wonderful inventive pass from Martin Odegaard.

Ex-Brighton man Ben White saw a shot diverted behind as Arsenal kept the pressure on, with things getting worse for Brighton as Milner was forced off through injury.

The Seagulls managed to stand firm at the back as the game eventually developed into a far more even contest, with the delays caused by Milner’s injury and a knock suffered by Odegaard rather disrupting Arsenal’s early rhythm.

Pedro began to cause issues and Mitoma crashed a low volley wide of the back post as confident Brighton settled down nicely after a shaky opening.

Arsenal finished the first half in the ascendancy after Hurzeler had been booked for protesting that Rice’s first yellow was too lenient, Trossard twisting and turning before firing a low shot straight at Verbruggen.