Arsenal 1–1 Brighton
by Layth Yousif
at Ashburton Grove 

CONTROVERSY reigned in North London on Saturday lunchtime when referee Chris Kavanagh sent off Declan Rice shortly after half time.

The £105m England international saw red for the first time, in his 245th Premier League appearance, after being handed a ludicrously soft second yellow card for “blocking the restart” following a tangle with Joel Veltman.

The 24-year-old former West Ham midfielder also received a violent kick for his troubles, yet culprit Veltman was only handed a yellow. Home fan ire was amplified when Kavanagh ignored Joao Pedro booting the ball away in the first half in similar circumstances. 

The contentious decision from referee Kavanagh saw Brighton equalise moments later through Joao Pedro, who followed up David Raya’s block from Yankuba Minteh’s initial shot, after outmuscling Gabriel.

Speaking after the match, the incredulous Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said: “I was amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be.”

Earlier Arsenal took the lead through Kai Havertz, after the striker latched onto Bukayo Saka’s through ball, to lift the ball nonchalantly over the onrushing Bart Verbruggen and into the net to make it 1-0 seven minutes before the interval.

However, despite the best intentions of Arsenal’s 10 men to find a way through the Brighton backline, including Saka narrowly failing to get on the end of a sweeping move, a point apiece was the final outcome.

The point ensured both sides continued their good start to the new season, even if Albion’s 31-year-old manager insisted Rice deserved to be sent off, saying: “It was a red card. He shoots the ball away. He was wasting time,” before he added: “You can’t compare situations,” when asked why Pedro wasn’t carded.

With such furious talking points provided by this match, the wonder is not that we were talking about them for the rest of the weekend, but for the entire international break too.