Furious Mikel Arteta hits out at ‘inconsistency’ and brands Declan Rice red card ‘amazing’

A furious Mikel Arteta said he was “amazed, amazed, amazed” by the controversial red card shown to Declan Rice in his team’s feisty draw with Brighton.

Arsenal’s boss raged against refereeing “inconsistency” at the Emirates Stadium after the midfielder was dismissed in extraordinary circumstances when his side were leading 1-0.

The England international, who had been booked in the first half for a late tackle, was punished for diverting the ball out of the path of Brighton’s Joel Veltman while play was stopped.

The situation was made more bizarre because Veltman’s response was to follow through with his kick, clattering the Arsenal player.

Veltman avoided punishment but Rice was shown a second yellow card and a red by referee Chris Kavanagh for “delaying the restart”.

It was the first red card of Rice’s Premier League career and he later said he was “shocked” by the decision as he apologised to his team-mates and Arsenal’s supporters.

Brighton went on to equalise less than 10 minutes after Rice was sent off when Joao Pedro netted for Fabian Hurzeler’s men.

The London side’s anger was exacerbated by the fact that Pedro had avoided a yellow card in the first half for kicking the ball away after it had gone out of play.

“I was amazed,” said Arteta. “Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be.

“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 [the referee] can make that call, but then by law he needs to make the next call, which is a red card [to Veltman] so we play 10 versus 10. This is what amazed me. At this level, it is amazing.”

‘I will be better for it’

Rice said he believed the decision was “harsh” but vowed to learn from the incident.

“I think you could see in my face I was shocked,” he said. “I have not sprinted back in front of him and smashed the ball away. I have touched the ball with the outside of my foot. Look, this is the law of the game. If you touch the ball away, even a little bit, obviously it’s a red card, after my challenge in the first half.

“But with it being in the corner flag, they can’t really progress anywhere from there. It was tough, it was harsh, but it’s one of those things. I have to move on from it. I will be better for it.

“That’s my first sending-off in my career, so I just wanted to apologise, obviously, to my team-mates, which I’ve done, and to the fans. When you get sent off, it’s never nice, you get a sense of guilt over you, and I was lucky today that my team-mates really helped me out and we didn’t lose the game.”

‘We just want consistency’

Bukayo Saka, the Arsenal winger, said: “We just want some consistency. Joao Pedro booted the ball halfway across the pitch in the first half and got nothing for it and Dec got the slightest touch and was sent off. It is what it is, I don’t want to put the whole game on the referee as we still had chances to win it.”

Hurzeler, Brighton’s head coach, said it was a “clear” red card for Rice and described the Pedro incident as incomparable to what took place between Rice and Veltman.

“For me it is a clear red card,” said Hurzeler. “He shoots the ball away, it’s wasting time. There are not two opinions.

“You can’t compare these two situations. The first with Joel is clear, it is a free-kick so it is a static situation. With Joao it is a much more of a dynamic situation so it is not even clearly out, he tried to keep the ball in the game. Please never compare these situations because in football two situations are never the same.”

Sending off Rice was nonsense

The decision to send off Declan Rice was absolute nonsense.

All Rice did was tap the ball, and it barely went a yard! His insignificant actions had no material impact on the match and hardly slowed the game down, which was the explanation offered by the Premier League for the second yellow to be shown.

In the madness of the incident unfolding, I also do not understand how Brighton’s Joel Veltman escaped a card after hoofing the ball, and Rice, after the Arsenal played had tapped it.

Veltman’s actions could have easily earned him a red card, and was a far more egregious act than that of Rice. A yellow should have been given to him at a minimum. The video assistant referee would have been well within their rights to intervene.

Common sense going out of refereeing

The farce at the Emirates is another prime example of common sense going out of refereeing. Chris Kavanagh was clearly focusing on the letter of the law, rather than using a feel for the game.

I get the feeling that the current crop of referees is too afraid to do anything that is not exactly by the book. We are losing that grey area of wiggle room that the top officials understand how to use to manage a game.

When I was refereeing, I always believed that if you were handing out a second yellow card, it needed to be at the level of an “orange” card. By that I mean, closer to a red than a yellow, given the implications it can have on the match.

Sympathy and common sense should be part of refereeing. I fear they are both lacking.

After all, football remains a form of entertainment and that is being lost at the moment. Rice being sent off is a bad look for the Premier League and the sport.