Declan Rice escapes red card after controversial Arsenal moment vs Brighton

Declan Rice was ultimately only shown a red card and not sent off(Image: Pedro Porru/MB Media, Getty Images)

Declan Rice is the subject of controversy over an incident late in the match against Brighton & Hove Albion after the Arsenal midfielder was shown a yellow card.

Rice, 27, tangled with Malick Yalcouye just before the full-time whistle and was then involved in an altercation with him off-the-ball. The result was a booking, but there are some suggestions that referee Darren England should have produced a red card.

Parallels are being drawn to the sending off of Phil Foden in the Manchester derby last weekend. The Manchester City midfielder kicked out at Bruno Fernandes and was immediately shown his marching orders, and Rice seemed to do something similar on Saturday afternoon.

The pair had been engaged in a seemingly harmless tussle moments beforehand. Then, in the aftermath, as Yalcouye moved past Rice, the England international looked to go out of his way to kick out at the Brighton star, tripping him.

The referee did notice the incident and issued Rice a yellow card. The full-time whistle was immediately sounded, and there was no intervention from the video assistant referee watching on, Paul Tierney.

Referencing Foden's red card, @ZakLFC7 wrote on X: "How's this any different to Foden then?" @cam_nufc declared: "It should be a red card for violent conduct, three-match ban, and he walks away with a yellow."

@cxllumlfc100 replied with: "Might not be harmful, but he's literally got angry and kicked out at someone. It's a textbook red card."

@AlekRavn said: "How on earth does Declan Rice not get a red card here? Phil Foden got a red last weekend for the same thing? Where are the referees for laughs in the Premier League? Arsenal massive gift again, again, again.."

Had Rice been dismissed, the midfielder would have faced suspension for Arsenal's following three Premier League fixtures, beginning with a home encounter against high-flying Leeds United. Subsequently, the Gunners make the trip to Nottingham Forest before hosting Everton at the Emirates Stadium for what would have been the final game of his ban.

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However, Rice will remain available for all three of those contests when club football resumes following the international break in mid-October. It represents one fewer concern for manager Mikel Arteta to contemplate.

However, the Spanish coach will still need to process this setback for the better part of a month before Arsenal return to competitive action. Speaking after the match, Arteta stated: "A really disappointing result and performance.

"Brighton were another gear up from us. We were extremely poor technically and not respecting the game. Credit to Brighton. They went up another gear. It's a big lesson to learn. It doesn't take away from what the team has done the last few weeks. But now we have to make sure we learn the lesson because this can happen again."

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