Mikel Arteta mentioned he was “amazed” by Declan Rice‘s dismissal in Arsenal‘s 1-1 draw with Brighton on Saturday and known as for larger consistency in officiating.
Rice was despatched off within the fiftieth minute after referee Chris Kavanagh issued a second yellow card for what the Premier League later clarified was “delaying the restart” after nudging the ball out of Joël Veltman‘s path as he appeared to take a free kick, resulting in a conflict between the pair.
Veltman kicked Rice as a substitute of the ball and Arteta claimed that ought to have been punished whereas additionally citing Joao Pedro escaping a reserving for kicking the ball away within the first half.
“I used to be amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed due to how inconsistent selections could be,” Arteta mentioned. “Within the first half, there are two incidents and nothing occurs.
“Then, in a non-critical space, the ball hits Declan [on the back of his leg], he turns round, he does not see the participant coming and he touches the ball.
“By regulation, he could make that decision, however then by regulation he must make the subsequent name, which is pink card so we play 10 vs. 10. That is what amazed me. At this degree it is wonderful.”
Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler disputed Arteta’s comparability between Rice’s dismissal and Pedro’s incident.
“You possibly can’t evaluate these two conditions,” he mentioned. “It’s a free kick, it’s a static state of affairs.
“The opposite is a dynamic state of affairs. It was not even clearly out. We will by no means evaluate these conditions. Two conditions are by no means the identical so you’ll be able to’t evaluate.”
Nevertheless, Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka repeated his supervisor’s need for consistency.
“I assumed it was a bit harsh for us,” he instructed TNT Sports activities. “We simply need some consistency. Joao Pedro booted the ball midway throughout the pitch within the first half and received nothing for it and Dec received the slightest contact and was despatched off.”
Arsenal took the lead seven minutes earlier than the break after advantageous work from Saka launched Kai Havertz, who lifted a advantageous end over Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.
Brighton made probably the most of their numerical benefit by equalising on 58 minutes as Joao Pedro turned dwelling the rebound after David Raya saved Yankuba Minteh‘s shot.
After Saka and Havertz missed late possibilities to win it, Arsenal dropped factors for the primary time within the Premier League this season.
“We confirmed quite a lot of self-discipline,” Arteta mentioned. “We reacted to what we needed to do taking part in at dwelling with 10 males. We did not need to be so deep defending like this, however we learn the sport and we performed the sport that we needed to play and we must always have gotten rewarded.”
