Micah Richards says Arsenal were on the wrong end of "one of the worst refereeing decisions ever" after seeing Declan Rice sent off for kicking the ball away.
Rice was shown a second yellow card during Saturday's 1-1 draw with Brighton after kicking the ball away as Joel Veltman lined up a free kick. The decision, which is correct in relation to the laws of the game, has prompted outrage from Arsenal-leaning pundits and fans.
Ian Wright soon after described referee Chris Kavanagh as having "main-character energy" and, like many, pointed to Joao Pedro kicking the ball away earlier in the game without facing punishment.
Wright told Premier League Productions: "You look at Veltman and what he is doing there. Veltman is trying to get him booked. Veltman has nobody to pass the ball to. He knows exactly what he is doing. Those are the things VAR can look at. He knows what he is doing. He is trying to get him sent off.
If [the referee] had an ounce of common sense, he wouldn’t have given a yellow card for that
"Declan Rice doesn’t have to kick the ball, but at the same time, Declan is playing the game, but so is Veltman. You can recognise what Declan is doing, but you aren’t supposed to recognise what Veltman is doing?!"
When the topic was discussed on The Rest Is Football podcast, fellow hosts Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer supported the referee's decision much to the surprise of vocal Arsenal fan Richards.
"I feel completely different to the way you guys feel," he said. "I think that was one of the worst decisions I have ever seen. Letter of the law? First point, Joao Pedro kicked the ball away. He kicked the ball away! He didn’t get a yellow card."
When Shearer told Richards that Pedro avoided a yellow because the ball was already off the pitch, the former defender replied: "It doesn’t matter! Mikel Arteta was about to get the 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.
"He kicked the ball away, so in my mind, that’s time wasting. That’s the first point. The second point is Joel Veltman. I’ve played in that position a lot. He’s tried to argue he’s taking a quick free-kick.
"If you’re gonna play a quick free-kick, you don’t throw the ball five yards in front of you. You put your hand on the ball and then you pass it. You don’t take a quick free-kick there anyway.
"You wait for your team to be set. He throws the ball, acts like he is going to kick it, but there is no-one in the space where he’s about to kick it anyway. Declan Rice, now… OK… I could understand if Declan Rice moved towards the ball and kicked it away.
"But he is running back, he sees the ball and he gives it a little… that’s just a natural reaction! I don’t think he kicked it. You know when the ball comes to you and you just try to stop it to wherever it’s going. There’s no way in history that should be a second yellow card.
"I cannot get on board with that. If that’s a yellow card, football has officially gone. It was one of them moments when Brighton needed a breather. They weren’t wanting to take a quick free-kick anyway. If [the referee] had an ounce of common sense, he wouldn’t have given a yellow card for that."
