Premier League panel deliver final verdict on Declan Rice red card against Brighton

09/10/2024 08:27 AM

Referee Chris Kavanagh had ‘no choice’ but to send off Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice against Brighton, the Premier League’s key Match Incidents panel has ruled.

The Gunners will be without the influential England star after he was controversially dismissed against Brighton a fortnight ago.

Already on a yellow card, Rice was given his marching orders after he was given a second yellow card for preventing Joel Veltman from taking a quick free kick.

Rice made only the merest contact with the ball but it was enough for Kavanagh to deem he had deliberately impeded his opponent.

The panel has now unanimously backed the decision and wrote: ‘Rice knows what he’s doing – it’s a gentle touch, but once the referee sees it he has no choice.’

Arsenal will now be without their midfield linchpin for Sunday’s crucial north London derby against Tottenham, a suspension which only served to rub salt into Mikel Arteta’s wounds.

‘I was amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be,’ said Arteta in his post-match press conference.

‘In the first half, there are two incidents 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 10 vs 10. This is what amazed me. At this level it’s amazing.’

An injury to new signing Mikel Merino had already limited Arteta’s options and news of Martin Odegaard’s setback, sustained while playing for Norway, represents another huge blow ahead of a daunting seven days.

Asked for a prognosis on Odegaard’s injury last night, Norway’s team doctor said: 'Martin is doing quite well now. He got a small ankle sprain. We will see throughout the evening and tomorrow what happens next and what we will do about it.

'Ankle sprains are difficult to deal with straight away, so we almost have to see how things go forward

'We will examine him when we are back at the hotel. Maybe we use ultrasound to look at it. If we are unsure, there will be an MRI tomorrow.'