Final word: Most of the post-match chat will centre around the referee’s decision to give Declan Rice a second yellow card but in this reporter’s humble opinion, by far and away the most egregious decision made in this game was the collective one between Chris Kavanagh and his VAR officials when they decided not to award Arsenal a penalty for what seemed a completely obvious handball in the first half.
Arsenal 1-1 Brighton
Match report: The controversial dismissal of Declan Rice shortly after half-time proved a major turning point as Brighton came from behind to draw with Arsenal and were ultimately disappointed not to win. Ed Aarons reports from the Emirates Stadium …
Rice's red card not without precedent
My thanks to my colleague Philip Cornwall, who has pointed out that this is not the first time that an Arsenal player has been sent off for kicking the ball away after having a free-kick awarded against them.
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Mikel Arteta: "It's inconsistency"
In his post-match debrief with TNT SPorts, Mikel Arteta makes the quite salient point that giving Declan Rice a second yellow card for delaying a restart is fine, as long as the laws are applied consistently throughout the game.
“In the first half there were a number of occasions where they kicked the ball away and nothing happened. So it’s inconsistency, especially because it was in an area [of the pitch] that was not critical and on top of that, if you make that call, then you have to give a red card [to Joel Veltman] as well.”
Fabian Hurzeler: "We felt a little disappointed"
Brighton’s manager has just been interviewed by TNT Sports and is annoyed that his side did not win the game. He says that perhaps in a couple of days he might see this as a good point won but for now it seems like two lost.
On the sending-off: “What I saw is that he shot the ball away so that is a clear yellow card for me. On the other side, what we were getting taught at the referee’s meeting is that the time goalkeepers or other players take [to restart the game] will be added on to the additional time after the game.
“I don’t understand how many minutes the [Arsenal] goalkeeper takes away from this game becauser we only had six extra minutes. That’s what I don’t understand but for me it was a clear yellow card.”
And finally: Whatever about your thoughts on the referee’s decision or lack of consistency, hopefully we can all agree with this sentiment from Niall Mullen.
“I know football is so very important but it was also very funny seeing Rice get booted up in the air and then get a red card.”
An email: “The problem is consistency,” writes Iglesias Delgado. “Joao Pedro kicked the ball away in the first half - no yellow - and there is no way in hell that every time a player kicks/picks up the ball when a free kick is given, that the ref is going to book him.”
This is true. There was one stage during the first half when a free-kick was awarded against Brighton and Pedro booted the ball up the touchline in frustration without being punished.
An email: “I don’t know if I qualify as a measured Gooner, but my first thought was that Rice would get a second yellow,” writes Kari Tulinius. “However, I was surprised Veltman didn’t at least receive a booking.”
I think Veltman knew exactly what he was doing but can legitimately argue that he was in the process of kicking the ball when Rice tapped it out of the flight path of his foot, so didn’t do anything wrong.
Lewis Dunk: "I had to bounce back"
“I have to look at myself in the first goal,” says Brighton’s skipper in an interview with TNT Sports. “I had to bounce-back from that. In the end, it’s a good point the Emirates is a tough place to come.”
Asked if his mistake for Arsenal’s goal was playing on his mind, he says no. “Maybe when I was younger,” he adds. “You make mistakes in football and it’s how you react to those mistakes. It was nice to set one up at the other end.
On Brighton’s equaliser: “The way we want to play is forward and vertical - we have quick forwards we can make passes to. We didn’t create enough chances when they went down to 10 men, but we will go away and look at it. We always believe we can win any game of football. We are in a good place and we know we can beat anybody.”
An email: “Referees are supposed to apply common sense,” writes Martin. “Yes, Rice tapped the ball away but if you think the punishment for that should be 10 men be 11, you’re not seeing the wood from the trees.”
I would respectfully argue that referees are supposed to apply the laws of the game and one of those laws states that the punishment for kicking the ball away after a freekick has been awarded is a yellow card.
The fact that Declan Rice had already been the subject of an entirely deserved booking before he fell foul of this particular law was entirely his own fault, not that of the referee. Joel Veltman played Rice like a violin with a commendable demonstration of s-housery.
An email: “You want to be lenient and let the handball go, I’m fine with that,” writes Zach Neeley. “You want to be strict and give Rice a second yellow, fine. But swinging back and forth, even on the same incident with Rice, the ref has made himself the person on the pitch who most influenced the outcome.”
Full time: Arsenal 1-1 Brighton
It ends all square at the Emirates: Arsenal were deserving leaders at half-time following Kai Havertz’s excellent lobbed effort but the game was transformed by the dismissal of Declan Rice early in the second half.
Joao Pedro restored parity for Brighton soon afterwards and the visiting side dominated thereafter without being able to take advantage of their superior numbers. A point each seems about fair and the post-match and the post match interviews should make for fascinating listening.
90+6 min: Brighton win a free-kick in a good position wide on the left and Joao Pedro is booked for something he says to the referee a second later.
Arsenal clear the free-kick, while Brighton’s players appeal for a penalty for a perceived handball. They don’t get one despite a VAR check and it’s all over.
90+5 min: David Raya is booked for timewasting over a goal-kick.
90+4 min: Georginio Rutter misses an excellent chance to win the game for Brighton as he fails to make proper contact with an excellent cross from the left. The goal is at his mercy but his scuffed header goes harmlessly wide.
90+3 min: Brighton corner. Arsenal clear and threaten to attack on the break but are let down by a poor Saka pass to Martinelli.
90+3 min: David Raya rushes off his line to save bravely at the feet of Carlos Baleba on the edge of his six-yard box as the Brighton midfielder chased a through ball.
90+1 min: We’re into six minutes of added time, although I’d say if the Premier League offered Mikel Arteta a point now he’d snap their hand off.
89 min: Baleba shoots from just outside the area, catching Gabriel in the midriff with the ball and knocking him off his feet. Oof! The ball breaks back to Baleba, who sends his follow-up effort over the bar.
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88 min: The ball breaks to Georginio Rutter in a decent shooting position on the inside right. Under the bouncing ball, he fires his effort high and wide.
86 min: The 10 men of Arsenal are pinned back, deep in their own half and have had just 19% of possession in the past five minutes.
83 min: “I find it difficult to have sympathy for Rice, given that he’d already been booked and then committed another bookable offence,” writes Andy Flintoff (not that one). “He knew precisely what he was doing, so he can’t blame the referee for that one.”
Agreed … and I will be interested to see what more measured Gooners of my acquaintance, including various Arseblog’s proprieter and various contributers to his site, make of it.
81 min: Ben White dispossesses Kaoru Mitoma with a perfectly timed tackle in the Arsenal penalty area, conceding a corner in the process. From that set-piece, they win another. Van Hecke gets to the second inswinger and heads wide, but clashes heads with his teammate Georginio Rutter in the process. They’re both OK.
79 min: Play stops so Jurrien Timber can receive treatment for an injury. He looks fit to continue but it seems he is is about to be replaced anyway. Yup, here comes Oleksandr Zinchenko.
77 min: It’s Verbruggen to the rescue for Brighton once again, denying a understandably weak Saka shot after the England international had stretched every sinew to connect with a wonderful low cross from Martinelli.
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75 min: Oh my! Played clean through on goal with only Bart Verbruggen to beat, Kai Havertz is denied by the goalkeeper’s outstretched boot. The ball breaks to Gabriel Martinelli, who stays on his feet in the penalty area under a challenge from Van Hecke and then has his shot blocked by the Dutchman.
74 min: Arsenal susbtitution: Gabriel Martinelli on for Martin Odegaard. Brighton substitutions: Pervis Estupinan and Georginio Rutter on for Veltman and Minteh.
73 min: Hinshelwood’s delivery is excellent, Raya stays rooted to his line and Danny Welbeck heads over. A good chance goes to waste.
70 min: Before the free-kick can be taken, there’s a break in play so Joel Veltman can receive treatment for an injury. Arsenal’s supporters are as sympathetic as you might expect given the full-back’s role in Declan Rice’s sending-off.
70 min: Jurrien Timber is booked for a foul on Yankuba Minteh and Brighton have a free-kick wide on the left. Minteh gets booked too although I couldn’t tell you why.
69 min: Yasin Ayari’s delivery is poor and his inswinger sails straight into the gloves of David Raya.
69 min: Mitoma sends another excellent cross flashing through the Arsenal box but Welbeck is unable to connect under pressure from Gabriel. Brighton corner.
67 min: Rallied by their gesticulating captain, Martin Odegaard, Arsenal’s fans up the volume in a bid to get get behind their team.
65 min: That red card means Declan Rice will miss Arsenal’s upcoming north London derby against Spurs following the international break. His employers will be unable to appeal against the sending-off in a bid to get it overturned, because it was for two yellows rather than a straight red.
64 min: Mitoma cuts in from the left and drills the ball across the face of the Arsenal goal trying to pick out Welbeck, who is unable to get to it.
63 min: Brighton have had 72 percent possession in this second half and are now in the ascendency.
61 min: Going back to the Brighton equaliser, I can’t speak highly enough of Lewis Dunk’s assist. Having been badly at fault for Arsenal’s opener, he more than made up for his error with an inch-perfect assist from deep, threading the ball between Gabriel and William Saliba, right into the path of Minteh.
60 min: Yasin Ayari is teed up by Mitoma a couple of yards outside the Arsenal penalty area. His shot is blocked by Gabriel.
59 min: Arsenal substitute: Riccardo Calafiori on for Leandro Trossard. The Italian slots in at left back as Arsenal switch to a back five.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Brighton (Pedro 58)
Brighton equalise! Lewis Dunk plays a brilliant pass between Arsenal’s two centre-backs for Yankuba Minteh to run on to. His low shot is saved by David Raya and Joao Pedro scores on the follow-up from about seven yards out.
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57 min: Anyway, back to the present, where 10-man Arsenal are trying to protect their one-goal lead. They’re about to bring on an Italian substitute with great hair.
54 min: Having said that, I think Veltman was very lucky to avoid punishment of any kind for booting Rice. In mitigation, a good lawyer could argue that he was in the process of kicking the ball a split-second before Rice rolled it out of the way to prevent him taking the quick free-kick.
52 min: Arsenal’s supporters are very, very unhappy and I suppose you can’t blame them. I presume they, like me, thought Veltman was going to get his marching orders and couldn’t believe their eyes when Rice was shown red. To be clear, he did kick the ball away and that is a yellow card offence.
Red card: Arsenal down to 10 men (Rice)
49 min: In trying to take a free-kick down by the corner flag deep inside his own half after Declan Rice had kicked the ball away to prevent him doing so, Joel Veltman boots the Arsenal midfielder on the knee and knocks him off his feet.
Referee Chris Kavanagh takes out his red card. Now here’s the thing – I presumed it was going to be shown to Veltman, but it’s Rice who goes after getting his second yellow … presumably for kicking the ball away.
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47 min: Hinshelwood sticks out a leg to block a Declan Rice sahot on goal after the Arsenal midfielder connected with a deft Timber backheel from the byline. The ball goes out for a corner and Rice picks out Gabriel at the back post. He’s unable to steer his effort on target.
Second half: Arsenal 1-0 Brighton
46 min: Play resumes with Arsenal on the ball and protecting a one-goal lead. There are no further changes on either side following the first half withdrawal of Brighton midfielder James Milner due to injury.
A question: “How is it that a ball coming off the lower shoulder on the way to the goal (Dango Ouattara for Bournemouth last week) can be ruled out by VAR as a handball as a ‘question of fact’, but a goalbound shot that is clearly blocked by a forearm (Ben White’s shot stopped by Lewis Dunk today) cannot be ruled a handball and penalty on the same grounds?” asks Angus Chisholm.
“All of this suggests that PGMOLs ever-evolving heuristics for interpreting the rules of football are barely thought-out reactions to punditry, and that the actual decision making practices of VARs are ad hoc, vibes-based and inconsistent (which has in fact been confirmed by audio recordings from the VAR booth).”
An email: “Have people gone a bit over the top about Brighton and their start to the season?” asks David Wall. “They could quite easily have lost to United last weekend (and if Zirkzee had been able to stop sliding on the wet grass they probably would have done), and I’m not sure victories over Everton in August really count that much.
“And I think Brighton were top of the table this time last year too before their season seemed to tail off after they were knocked out of Europe. Is the over-reaction based less on their games and more on the fact that people are amazed that an adult can manage other adults who are slightly older than him?”
Well, as far as Everton are concerned, I would reply with the hoary old saw that you can only beat the team that’s in front of you. And the win over United? Going by your argument, you could say Arsenal were similarly lucky to beat Aston Villa despite quite obviously being the better team for long periods of the game.
Half-time: Arsenal 1-0 Brighton
Peep! The players troop off for their half-time brew with Arsenal the deserving leaders courtesy of Kai Havertz’s well taken lobbed effort.
45+3 min: Partey fouls Joao Pedro and gets what looks like a very harsh booking. Free-kick for Brighton, wide on the left. Hinshelwood’s curled delivery into the box is cleared by Gabriel.
45+2 min: Leandro Trossard cuts in from the left and shoots towards the near post. Verbruggen gets down to make the save.
45 min: The ball goes out for what should be a Brighton corner but Arsenal are awarded a goal-kick. Nobody in yellow objects, a state of affairs that suggests they didn’t notice the ball being deflected out off the back of Gabriel’s outstretched leg.
42 min: Declan Rice is booked for a foul on Joel Veltman. Fabian Hurzeler thinks it should have been a red card, complains at length to the fourth official and is shown a yellow card of his own.
It was a fairly rash lunge on Rice’s part but the force was not excessive and his studs were down. A yellow seems fair enough although other opinions will almost certainly be available.
41 min: It was an extremely tidy finish by Havertz but Lewis Dunk was badly at fault in the build-up, allowing himself to be shouldered off the ball by a man approximately half his size. Spotting the danger, Verbruggen rushed off his line to the edge of his area only for Havertz lift the ball over him.
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GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Brighton (Havertz 39)
Arsenal lead! From about 20 yards out, Kai Havertz lifts the ball over Bart Verbruggen and watches it bounce into the net after receiving a pass from Bukayo Saka, who had outmuscled Lewis Dunk as the duo contested a fifty-fifty bouncing ball.
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35 min: As assorted Arsenal players ping the ball to and fro across the halfway line, Brighton’s 10 outfield player maintain an extremely compact shape well outside their own penalty area, covering about 15 yards of the pitch.
As soon as Arsenal try to play the ball in behind to exploit the massive gap between their defensive line and Bart Verbruggen, the men in yellow step forward and catch them offside. Has Fabian Hurzeler been studying the George Graham era Arsenal playbook?
34 min: After an extremely difficult start, Hinshelwood has grown into the game and now clears a through ball from deep played towards Saka.
32 min: Bukayo Saka takes a bang in the face from Hinshelwood as the duo contest a high ball and goes down holding his face. Play is stopped so he can receive treatment, prompting Fabian Hurzeler to go nuts in his technical area.
30 min: Minteh takes down a crossfield pass and tries to pick out Danny Welbeck with a dink. A poor Kai Havertz defensive header drops for Mitoma, who volleys across the face of goal and wide.
29 min: Brighton win a corner but waste it when Minteh overhits his delivery.
28 min: Arsenal’s remain on top but are no longer as rampant, their momentum appearing to have been stalled by the break in play when James Milner was down receiving treatment.
25 min: Odegaard tries to play Havertz in behind Brighton’s high line but Jean Paul van Hecke manages to turn and intercept before the Arsenal striker can show the Dutch defender a clean pair of heels.
24 min: From the right side of the Arsenal penalty area, Joel Veltman sends a rugby style garryowen towards the far post, where David Raya gathers under pressure from Joao Pedro.
23 min: Bukayo Saka’s delivery is dismal and his inswinger is cleared at the near post.
21 min: Odegaard is passed fit to continue and moments later Arsenal win a corner.
19 min: There’s a break in play so Martin Odegaard can receive treatment for an ankle injury after being caught by Yankuba Minteh, who seemed to make every effort to pull out of the challenge in midfield.
18 min: Running towards the edge of the six-yard box, Martin Odegaard connects with a cross from the left. Connecting on the volleys, he sidefoots the ball straight at Bart Verbruggen.
16 min: Brighton substitution: James Milner goes off injured and is replaced by Yasin Ayari, the 20-year-old Swedish international.
14 min: Joao Pedro whips a cross into the Arsenal penalty area with his right foot. Yankuba Minteh times his run perfectly, beats Jurrien Timber in the air and brings a smartish save out of David Raya with his powerful header.
13 min: “I already feel sorry for him,” says Ally McCoist of Hinshelwood on TNT Sports. “He needs Carlos Baleba or Kaoru Mitoma to help him out defensively.”
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11 min: A Ben White shot hits Lewis Dunk’s hand in the Brighton penalty area but Arsenal don’t get a penalty. I’ve seen them given for a lot less. In the build-up to that shot, Saka took on and beat Hinshelwood again. He already has the young Brighton left-back on toast.
9 min: Saka gets in behind Hinshelwood again but doesn’t really test Verbruggen with a low diagonal shot towards the near post.
7 min: Jack Hinshelwood fouls Saka on the edge of the Brighton penalty area, right-hand side. Free-kick for Arsenal. Saka’s low free-kick is blocked by Kauro Mitoma. The ball breaks to Odegaard, who scoops an up-and-down flop shot over the defence to the edge of the six-yard box. Saka’s volley is blocked by Verbruggen.
6 min: Up against his former club, Leandro Trossard takes on Lewis Dunk and sends a cross towards the far post trying to pick out Havertz. It’s too high.
5 min: Arsenal are in the ascendency in these very early stages, but Joao Pedro wins possession in their half … only to lose it again courtesy of a loose pass into the penalty area that was intercepted by Thomas Partey.
3 min: Jean Paul van Hecke clears the ball for Brighton after Bukayo Saka had got the better of Jack Hinshelwood down the right flank, cut inside and forced a save out of Bart Verbruggen at his near post.
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2 min: Kaoru Mitoma takes the ball from Martin Odegaard in the Brighton left-back area and goes sprinting up the touchline towards the halfway line, only to run it out of play for a throw-in.
Arsenal v Brighton is go ...
1 min: Brighton get the ball rolling, their players wearing yellow shirts, shorts and socks. It’s booted forward and David Raya gets an early touch in the Arsenal goal.
Not long now: Led by their captains Lewis Dunk and Martin Odegaard, both sets of players make their way out on to the pitch behind referee Chris Kavanagh and Andy Madley. The last of the pre-match formalities are under way and kick-off is just a few minutes away.
I’d like to extend a warm welcome to all our readers, not least to any newbies who might have wandered into this report to pass the time while they while away their Saturday queueing online to get into a queue to buy tickets for a certain rock band’s reunion tour.
You’ll be pleased to hear that I’m not that fussed about going to see Oasis and will therefore be able to give what has the potential to be an excellent football match between Arsenal and Brighton my undivided attention.
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Today’s match officials
Referee: Chris Kavanagh.
Assistants: Lee Betts and Richard West.
Fourth official: John Busby.
VAR: Andy Madley.
Assistant VAR: Steve Meredith.
Those teams: Mikel Arteta makes one change to the side that beat Aston Villa last weekend, with Leandro Trossard coming in for Gabriel Martinelli on the back of his match-changing turn off the bench at Villa Park.
Fabian Hurzeler makes two changes, one of them enforced. In the absence of Billy Gilmour, who completed his move to Napoli yesterday, Carlos Baleba comes into Brighton’s midfield. Bart Verbruggen starts in goal, with Jason Steele dropping to the bench.
Arsenal v Brighton line-ups
Arsenal: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Partey, Rice, Odegaard; Saka, Havertz, Trossard
Substitutes: Setford, Kiwior, Calafiori, Zinchenko, Lewis-Skelly, Jorginho, Salah, Nwaneri, Martinelli
Brighton: Verbruggen; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Hinshelwood; Baleba, Milner, Joao Pedro; Minteh, Welbeck, Mitoma
Substitutes: Steele, Lamptey, Igor, Webster, Enciso, Rutter, Ayari, Adingra, Estupinan
🔴 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 ⚪️
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 31, 2024
One change from last time out - Trossard replaces Martinelli
Let's keep this momentum going, Gunners ✊
TEAM NEWS! 🚨 Here's our starting XI to take on @Arsenal in the @PremierLeague. 📝 pic.twitter.com/Y6R1YK02FN
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) August 31, 2024
Early Brighton team news
Brighton midfielder Matt O’Riley is out for the foreseeable future following the atrocious tackle visited upon him by Crawley Town’s Jay Williams nine minutes into his debut on Tuesday night. Fabian Hurzeler has since revealed that the Denmark international will need ankle surgery.
Solly March is also sidelined with a knee injury, while Matts Wieffer is expected to be in the squad after missing the past two games with a minor injury.
Signed from Fenerbahce for the thick end of £26m during the week, Turkish utility man Ferdi Kadioglu has already suffered a muscle injury in training.
Bart Verbruggen returned from injury to make his first appearance of the season against Crawley Town and could start today in place of Jason Steele in goal. Scottish midfielder Billy Gilmour left the club for Napoli yesterday.
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Early Arsenal team news
In one of the bigger Deadline Day stories, Arsenal signed Raheem Sterling on a season loan from Chelsea but while the winger will not be in today’s squad because he wasn’t registered in time, he is at the Emirates to watch his new teammates in action.
It’s been and up-and-down week for Mikel Merino, who arrived at the club on Wednesday from Real Sociedad, then suffered a shoulder injury in his very first training session with his new teammates. The unlucky midfielder hurt himself in a collision with Gabriel and Mikel Arteta expects him to be out for “a few weeks”.
Gabriel Jesus remains sidelined with the groin injury that ruled him out of the trip to Villa Park last weekend, although his condition is not believed to be serious. We can expect to see him back in action after the international break.
Kieran Tierney is still recovering from the hamstring injury that forced him off during Scotland’s group game against Switzerland at the Euros, while his fellow full-back Takehiro Tomiyasu continues his recovery from the knee injury that caused him to miss pre-season.
Arsenal’s reserve goalkeeper for all of last season and the opening two games of this one, the England international Aaron Ramsdale is hoping to reboot his career after joining Southampton on a permanent deal.
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Premier League: Arsenal v Brighton
With four wins out of four matches between them so far this season in the Premier League, something has to give when Arsenal host Brighton at the Emirates Stadium.
Brighton kicked off their campaign with wins over Everton and Manchester United, while their hosts have notched up victories over Wolves and Aston Villa that weren’t quite as straightforward as the 2-0 scorelines suggest.
The perfect start to the season of at least one of these two sides will come to an end during a game in which two of the Premier League’s youngest, most innovative and animated managers will gesticulate excitedly from adjacent technical areas.
Kick-off at the Emirate is at 12.30pm but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
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