Declan Rice’s red card for Arsenal during their draw against Brighton has been a major talking point this weekend.
Mikel Arteta is fully aware that his team simply can’t drop many points given what they are up against regarding Manchester City.
But Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Brighton already feels like a body blow for the team, especially given that Pep Guardiola’s side and Liverpool have made a 100% start to the new Premier League season.
However, Erling Haaland slammed what he was hearing about Arsenal and he defended the London club amid their frustration from the Brighton game.
Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher shared their thoughts on Rice’s red card because it has divided opinion.
The England midfielder was shown a second yellow card in the second half for kicking the ball away and not allowing Brighton to take a quick free kick.
But the gripe from Arsenal fans is that Joao Pedro booted the ball away in the first half, and despite protests, nothing was given and he wasn’t carded.
Neville admitted that the call to send Rice off was ‘soft’ and he would have ‘hated’ to have got sent off for such an action.
The Manchester United legend explained that Rice kicking the ball away was ‘a little tap’, even though the letter of the law states the official was right to make the call.
Jamie Carragher thinks Rice can have no arguments, but he did think Rice and Joel Veltman were trying to get each sent off at that moment, as he told Sky Sports.
Should Declan Rice have been sent off against Brighton?
“You can’t argue when you look at the letter of the law,” said Carragher. “I would have liked to have seen the referee use a bit of game management. Get the two of them together really quickly. Get the game going and I don’t think anyone would have made too big a deal about the fact that neither of them had been booked.
“I think Declan Rice went down a little bit too easily. The player from Brighton knew there wasn’t really a pass on. Almost trying to get each other booked. I don’t think they can argue, but I would have liked to have seen a bit of better game management from the referee.”
Neville added: “I thought it was soft. I used to get frustrated by delaying the game – if a player kicks it away in anger against a referee’s decision, then I think it should be a booking. If a player really prolongs or there is a delay and you can see them booting it away. I think it’s so quick and it’s just a reaction. It’s a little tap. I don’t know. I know you can’t differentiate sometimes between it and I know it’s the law. It did feel soft, for me. That sending off. The reality of it is, it is what it is. We are all going to get bad decisions in a season, but Arsenal, I think, their fans are going to be aggrieved. They are aggrieved. The manager would be. I would hate to get sent off for that
Declan Rice suspended for Tottenham game
After the international break, it’s the small matter of the north London derby, with Arsenal making the short trip to Tottenham.
Arsenal will be without Rice against Spurs, with Jorginho probably expected to come in for the Englishman, even though they aren’t like-for-like players.
Tottenham were beaten at Newcastle on Sunday at St James’ Park, so they aren’t exactly going into the game full of confidence.
But they should take it as a plus that Rice won’t be available, with both teams just unable to drop points or lose this fixture.
