It has happened again: When Declan Rice DID exactly the same thing, against Arsenal, without being booked! (vid)
Three years ago. Same phase. At the end of a match. In front of Michael Oliver. By Declan Rice. "We play normally." At the "Emirates" in fact, against Arsenal. We move to "today". The same player does EXACTLY the same thing, in a Gunners shirt, and gets sent off. We will never understand the English referees.
By DIMITRIS MANAKOS
It's only been a few hours since Arsenal drew with Brighton at the Emirates on Matchday 3 of the Premier League and everyone is trying to figure out what went wrong.
Why didn't the "gunners" manage to do the 3X3, why didn't they score more times in their good time, why didn't they beat the "seagulls" in North London.
Nerves are... plenty in their ranks over Chris Kavanagh's decision, with Mikel Arteta and Boukayo Saka speaking of inconsistency. In other words, for the tendency of English referees to whistle one thing differently one matchday, and the exact same thing a week later.
On this occasion, Kavanagh saw it as "prudent" to send off Declan Rice for the first time in his career, believing he had deliberately pushed the ball on Veltman's attempt to finish quickly in the 49th minute. In a phase that took place near the corner of... Brighton, four minutes after the start of the second half.
He did not calculate that the ball was "sliding", he did not think that there would be no intention to delay at such a point in time and left Arsenal with "10" players. Rice admitted that the regulation states that. But the "spirit" of the regulation should let him understand that he is wrong!
A few hours later, a video has appeared and has gone viral. A video showing Rice doing exactly the same against Arsenal three years ago. Granit Xhaka tries to execute quickly, Rice kicks the ball low to him, Paquet does the same and Michael Oliver is in front. No one is punished, the match continues!
However, on the same player, with the same intention, and at a point in time that is not suitable for delays, Chris Kavanagh chose to behave differently. And that, exactly, is Arsenal's complaint, speaking of inconsistency...
‼️ When Declan Rice did the SAME thing with another shirt. Just inconsistency!
— Dimitris Manakos (@dimitrismanakos) September 1, 2024
He never got a yellow then, in an Arsenal vs West Ham game, back in the Emirates! 👀🤔#premierleague #Rice #Cavanagh #Arsenal #AFC #WestHamUnited #Redcard pic.twitter.com/xxtxQ9THDt