Webb admits mistake as he gives Rice red card verdict in Arsenal vs Brighton match

Head of PGMOL Howard Webb insists Joao Pedro should have received a yellow card before Declan Rice was sent off for Arsenal against Brighton.

Arsenal looked on course for all three points when Kai Havertz put them ahead in the 38th minute against Brighton before the international break, but Rice received his marching orders 11 minutes later.

Referee Chris Kavanagh showed Rice a second yellow card after the England international subtly kicked away the ball from a Brighton free-kick by the corner flag to delay the restart.

No caution was given to Joel Veltman, who caught Rice in his follow through, and Arsenal failed to hold on with 10-men as Joao Pedro equalised with 58 minutes played and it ended 1-1 in front of a fired up Emirates Stadium crowd.

Mikel Arteta bemoaned Kavanagh’s decision and appeared to suggest Pedro, who was later cautioned, should have been given a yellow card in the 18th minute when he kicked the ball away after it had gone out for a throw.

And Webb admits that Pedro should have been booked earlier on in the game for kicking the ball away.

Speaking on Sky Sports , Webb said : “He wasn’t [booked], he should have been.

“It’s a different type of scenario, it sits in the same kind of booking around delaying the restart. Of course, he should have been cautioned here.

“The officials on the field gave him too much benefit of the doubt, feeling that the actions weren’t really impactful because they felt that the Arsenal players weren’t ready to take that throw-in, they were a little bit distance away from the ball, and Veltman [with Rice] was right there.

“I think when we look at this it’s quite clear that the actions of Pedro do have an impact, they do delay Arsenal’s ability to restart and, yes, that should have been a yellow card.

“We’ve certainly messaged that back to the officials. We want to be consistent with our application of these types of disciplinary sanctions, we’ve committed to dealing with players who delay the restart.

“Not every touch of the ball after the whistle is going to be a yellow card. You’ve got to look at what the intentions of the player were, what the impact of the player’s actions were. It might be that there’s absolutely no impact at all and therefore we’re not going to show a yellow card. But situations where we see that impact – and there was one with Pedro – we should be seeing the yellow card and that’s the feedback we’ve given to the officials.”

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When questioned whether Rice’s second yellow card could have been avoided, Webb replied: “No, I don’t think so.

“As you hear from Chris Kavanagh, he’s clearly seen Declan Rice commit a foul then kick the ball away for an opponent who was in the process of taking a free kick.

“We’ve messaged very clearly and strongly to the players in pre-season around the importance of not getting involved with the ball once the whistle has gone, not delaying the restart in that way and we said we’d be consistent in the way we’d handle this in the same way we were last season, the numbers of yellow cards for delaying the restart almost doubled last season.

“People want to see the game with tempo and flow. I think once he’s seen Declan Rice deliberately, clearly kick that ball away from the position of that free kick I don’t think he’s got any chance but to send him off.”

When asked about the ball still moving while Veltman tried to take the free-kick, Webb added: “It may have been but Declan Rice still felt the need to kick that ball away. It still has that impact.

“We have to look at what the player does in the situation, he acts in a way that’s very clear, he makes the decision to do that, to take the ball away from the opponent. It’s the referee’s job to deal with everything else.

“In this situation, the actions of Rice were designed to delay the restart, I don’t think he can have any complaints when his actions then result in a yellow card.”

On whether Veltman should have been sent off for kicking Rice during the incident, Webb continued: “Well, the ball’s there, he’s taking a free kick so it’s difficult to say anything other than that, really.

“Obviously, he’s looking up the field, he goes to kick the ball that’s then moved away from him by Rice’s actions, so I don’t think there’s anything that can be done about that particular action in that circumstance when the ball is there to be kicked by a player who has been given a free kick.”