Former referee Mark Halsey has criticised the decision to send off Declan Rice against Brighton, suggesting Chris Kavanagh was looking for trouble.

Premier League referee Chris Kavanagh decided to send off Arsenal’s Declan Rice during Saturday’s match against Brighton and Hove Albion, with the midfielder deemed to have delayed the restart by nudging the ball away from his opponent.

Yet former referee Mark Halsey points out that the rule doesn’t apply in this case, and that it was inconsistently applied by Kavanagh during the match.

“The ball was rolling when Brighton’s Joel Veltman took the free-kick, so the restart would not have taken place as it would have been wrong in Law,” Halsey pointed out in The S*n. “Therefore, the delaying a restart does not apply.

“Kavanagh went looking for trouble and he found it. A referee of his calibre at this level should not be sending players off for this.

“He should have managed the situation better by speaking to both players. Rice should have received a final warning for flicking the ball away and Veltman was also lucky to escape punishment for kicking the England star.

“Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta had a valid point when he highlighted Kavanagh’s inconsistency.

“Kavanagh acted on Rice but why didn’t he punish Joao Pedro for booting the ball downfield?”

In a similar incident in the first half, Pedro was chasing a ball towards the left touchline when he saw it roll out play.

Rather than leaving it, he booted the ball back onto the pitch, in an act that was very clearly solely to delay Arsenal’s throw-in. Kavanagh chose not to enforce the rules and punish him for it.

As Halsey mentions, Arteta highlighted the inconsistency in his post-match press conference.

“In the first half, there were two incidents and nothing happened,” Arteta said. “By law, he can make that call, but by law then he needs to make the next call which is a red card.

“By law, you want to do it but you didn’t do it in the first half.”

Bukayo Saka also highlighted the same issue, saying: “We just want some consistency. Joao Pedro booted the ball halfway across the pitch in the first half and got nothing for it. Dec got the slightest touch and was sent off.”