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Mikel Arteta bemoans lack of consistency after Declan Rice gets red card in draw against Brighton

Mikel Arteta bemoans a lack of consistency after Declan Rice gets a red card in the 1-1 draw against Brighton on Saturday afternoon.

Kai Havertz gave the Gunners a deserved lead at half time, but Declan Rice was stunned to receive a red card for delaying the restart while on a booking; then Joao Pedro equalised shortly afterwards.

The decision to send Rice off caused quite a stir, Martin Keown and Peter Crouch didn’t agree with it, and they also talked about Joao Pedro kicking the ball away as it went out of play during the first half but didn’t receive a card.

Mikel Arteta spoke to TNT Sport after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Brighton.

What explanation have you been given for the red card?

No, nothing, like always.

Based on ‘letter of the law’ are you satisfied with the idea Rice’s ‘offence’ was worthy of a second yellow card.

If that happens throughout the game in a consistent way, that’s fine. But it didn’t happen in the first half. There were a number of occasions where they kicked the ball away and nothing happened. So it’s inconsistency, especially because as well it’s in an area that is not critical and on top of that, if you make make that call then you have to give a red card as well [to Veltman].

Is it a bigger blow to lose someone like Rice?

If we had to play with 10, they had to play with 10 because then it’s a red card on Veltman.

How much will you miss Rice in the North London derby?

I don’t know, we are thinking about only the game and analysing this game.

Saka and Havertz, is their connection developing?

Yes, but it was unbelievable the way the team reacted because even with 10 men playing 49 minutes or 48 minutes like this, we should have won the game.

Arteta said, per Sky Sports: “I was amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be,” he said. “In the first half, there are two incidents [where Brighton kicked the ball away] and nothing happens.

“Then, in a non-critical area, the ball hits Declan (on the back of his leg), 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 red card so we play 10vs10. This is what amazed me. At this level it’s amazing.”

The Premier League Match Centre tweeted: “#ARSBHA – 48’ The referee issued a second yellow card to Declan Rice for delaying the restart.”

Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler:

“The Arsenal goal, for us, happened out of nowhere. It was bad defending from our side. Then in the second half it changed because of the red card.

“From the red card, we dominated the game, we created chances. We also had to be honest that we could concede the second goal for Arsenal, we were not consistent enough in our counter-pressing.

“So in the end it feels like disappointment as we wanted to win the game.”

Player ratings per Sky Sports

Arsenal: Raya (8); White (7), Saliba (7), Gabriel (6), Timber (6); Partey (6), Rice (4), Odegaard (6); Saka (8), Havertz (7), Trossard (6)

Subs used: Calafiori (7), Martinelli (6), Zinchenko (n/a)

Brighton: Verbruggen (8); Veltman (7), Dunk (7), Van Hecke (8), Hinshelwood (6); Baleba (6), Milner (5), Pedro (7); Minteh (7), Welbeck (6), Mitoma (7)

Subs used: Ayari (6), Estupinan (6), Rutter (6), Adingra (n/a), Enciso (n/a)

Player of the match: Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)

Here’s the Twitter reaction as Mikel Arteta bemoans lack of consistency after Declan Rice gets a red card in the 1-1 draw against Brighton…

@AshMeppers: When does Keown ever agree with anything that goes against Arsenal

@GooalMouth: The argument is “why didn’t Rice get away with something that’s illegal” instead of saying “why was Declan so stupid”. Safeguarding your favorites I see.

@Markafc87: How has nobody said the balls moving anyway so can’t restart 😂 so the yellow for rice is pointless he’s not preventing shit

@CalArsenal: By the letter of the law Veltman has tried to take a free kick 5 yards ahead of where it should be with a rolling ball. If you really want to be pedantic

@SuperBestFren: Kicking the ball away and stopping the quick play is a yellow, it’s stupid to give away but is what it is. He won’t do it again.

@PenaCartel: It’s very harsh, but such a needless thing to do

@WillJH21: It was a red card, no debate to be had

@bhafc_joe: Arteta can whinge and moan and shout at the officials all he wants but hurzeler complains once and gets booked??

@rookie7: The self entitlement of Arsenal fans and players is off the scale, must be the Arteta effect. He has turned them into a horrible club who really think they are something special. Long way since the class of Henry, Wenger and the like #bhafc

@proficiencypost: Why is antsy Arteta never penalized for coaching outside his box?

@9Matthew7: They probably explained it to you, but you were too busy standing outside of your technical area crying.

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