Arsenal: Micah Richards slams ‘worst decision’ as he refutes ‘nonsense’ Declan Rice red card claim

Manchester City legend Micah Richards reckons Declan Rice’s red card in the 1-1 draw between Arsenal and Brighton is “one of the worst decisions” he’s seen.

The Gunners won their first two Premier League games of the 2024/25 campaign but dropped points at home against Brighton on Saturday afternoon.

A smart finish by Kai Havertz saw Arsenal take the lead into the second half, but the game turned on its head shortly after the restart.

In the 49th minute, England international Rice was sent off after receiving a second yellow card.

The consensus is the central midfielder was referee Chris Kavanagh was right with the first yellow card, but the red card incident has sparked controversy.

The 25-year-old was booked for time-wasting as he kicked the ball away as Brighton defender Joel Veltman prepared to take a quick free-kick. Arsenal were punished soon after as Joao Pedro netted an equaliser in the 1-1 draw.

In response to this incident, Gary Lineker claimed this red card is “another sign that football’s lost its mind”.

“First yellow was a definite yellow. It’s one of those that by the letter of the law, you could probably argue that it might be a yellow card, but I mean, he flicked the ball about a foot. The ball was actually rolling at the time anyway,” Linekar said on The Rest is Football.

READ: Manchester United sympathy for Arsenal over Rice is lost in a sea of ‘consistency’ chat

“So did he stop him taking a free kick in that sense? Well, technically he couldn’t take one if the ball was rolling. I mean, I just think a little bit of common sense in those things, really.

“Sometimes, and I know referees will point out to the letter of the law and they can make an argument for that, but I don’t know. I just think it’s another sign that football’s kind of lost its mind a little bit for me to get a second yellow and a red card for that.”

Richards subsequently argued why he thinks this is “one of the worst decisions” he’s ever seen.

“Honestly, I feel completely different to the way you guys feel. I think that was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen,” Richards responded.

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“Arteta was about to get the ball and throw it to him. It looked like he was going to get it ball and throw it to his player. That’s what it looked like to me. I’m not being biased here. I’m being totally neutral to whatever. It kicks the ball away. So in my mind, I think that’s probably time-wasting. That’s the first point.

“The second point is Veltman. I’ve played in that position a lot of the time. First of all, he’s going to argue that he’s trying to play a quick free kick. That’s nonsense. If you’re going to play a quick free kick, you do not throw the ball five yards in front of you.

“You put your hand on the ball and then you pass it or whatever you want to do. And you don’t take a quick free kick there anyway, because you wait for your team to be set. So then he throws the ball. It looks like he’s going to kick it. Get the reverse angle of the game. There’s nobody in the space where he’s about to kick it anyway.”

He added: “Then it’s kicked at him, and you could argue it could be a red card. When I first saw the incident, I was thinking he’s going to get sent off here. Veltman, I slowed it down.

“And look, you slow everything down, there’s a little nick on it. But there’s no way, there’s no way in history that should be a second yellow card. I just can’t get on board with that. If that’s a yellow card, then football has officially gone. You can’t give a yellow card.”