Howard Webb has finally spoken out about the controversial incidents during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Brighton.
The Gunners were held to a 1-1 draw by the Seagulls at the Emirates Stadium just before the international break. This result was a blemish on what has otherwise been a flawless season for Arsenal.
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Declan Rice was shown a red card for delaying a restart, and the audio recording of referee Chris Kavanagh’s handling of the incident between Rice and Joel Veltman has been made public.
Webb, the Chief Refereeing Officer of the PGMOL, firmly believes that Rice deserved to be sent off, though he acknowledged that Kavanagh made another mistake during the game.
Kavanagh did not have his best performance when officiating the match between Arsenal and Brighton. The referee made numerous minor errors, with the Seagulls seemingly benefiting from almost every 50-50 decision. This was a source of great frustration.
The most significant moment of the match was Rice’s red card, and Webb stated on Sky Sports that the referee had no choice but to send him off.
Webb also conceded that there was another incident that should have been handled differently—Joao Pedro should have been booked. Pedro kicked the ball away in the first half, but the referee overlooked it, despite protests from Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on the sidelines.
Arsenal supporters were outraged that Rice was penalized for an action that appeared less severe than Pedro’s earlier offense.
Webb has now acknowledged that Kavanagh was wrong not to book Pedro.
He said: “He (Pedro) should have been [booked]. It’s a different type of scenario but it sits in the same bracket 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 the Arsenal defenders were too far away to take a throw-in, they were too distanced away from the ball, unlike Veltman who was right there.
“But it’s quite clear the actions of Pedro do have an impact and do delay Arsenal’s ability to restart and yes, that should have been a yellow card and we have communicated that to the officials. We want to be consistent with our application of these types of disciplinary sanctions.”
Arteta was livid after the match with the referee’s decision to send Rice off. The Arsenal manager believed that if his midfielder was shown a red card, then a Brighton defender should have been as well.
Veltman kicked Rice from behind, leaving the England international on the ground in pain. Webb has now stated that they made the right call in ignoring the incident.
“The ball is there, he’s taking a free-kick so it’s difficult to say anything other than that, really,” Webb said.
“He [Veltman] is looking up the field, he goes to kick the ball which is then moved away from him by Rice’s actions.
“So I don’t think there is anything that can be done by that action [of kicking Rice] in those circumstance – when the ball is there to be kicked by a player who has been given a free-kick.”
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