Declan Rice sent off in one of most bizarre red cards in Premier League history

Declan Rice was sent off in extraordinary circumstances in the second half of Arsenal’s meeting with Brighton on Saturday.

Rice, who had been shown a yellow card for a late tackle in the first half, received a second yellow at the start of the second half for seemingly nudging the ball away from Brighton’s Joel Veltman while play was stopped.

The situation was made more bizarre because Veltman’s response to Rice’s touch of the ball was to follow through with his kick, therefore clattering Rice.

As Rice went down to ground, holding his leg, the home supporters called for Veltman to be sent off. There was huge shock in the Emirates Stadium when the referee, Chris Kavanagh, instead produced a red card for Rice.

Arsenal were leading 1-0 at the time of Rice’s dismissal. Brighton scored an equaliser through Joao Pedro nine minutes later.

The Premier League has said the second yellow was for delaying the restart.

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