Reason Arsenal star Declan Rice avoided red card for ‘violent action’ during Brighton loss revealed | OneFootball

A former Premier League referee has revealed why Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice was not sent off during his side’s 3-0 loss against Brighton.

At the weekend, Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the 2026/27 campaign after winning their first seven games across all competitions.

The Gunners did not turn up against Brighton, and the 3-0 scoreline did not flatter Fabian Hurzeler’s side.

And Arsenal’s frustrations boiled over in the closing stages of the game, with Rice booked for kicking out at Brighton star Malick Yalcouye.

Following the match, former Premier League referee Keith Hackett has argued that Rice was “fortunate” not to be sent off.

“Declan Rice clearly kicked his opponent in an act of retaliation. The incident took place off the ball and Rice is fortunate that the referee determined the action was reckless and a yellow card,” Hackett told Football Insider.

“This kick in retaliation is, in law, a violent action and Rice is fortunate that referee England did not display a red card. The action by his opponent should have resulted in a yellow card.

“Given the incident last week involving the Manchester United captain [Bruno Fernandes] where he kicked [Phil] Foden and also received no sanction, Pro Ref has clearly set the bar too high when a player kicks an opponent.”

“It was aggressive, petulant and unnecessary, but not violent…”

However, another former Premier League referee, Graham Scott, has explained why Rice only received a yellow card for the incident.

“Quite what constitutes violent conduct in football continues to cause debate, but I did not see enough in Rice’s actions at Brighton to justify anything more than the caution he received,” Scott told The Athletic.

“A red card for violent conduct should involve excessive force or brutality, and the contact from Rice onto Yalcouye contained neither. It was aggressive, petulant and unnecessary, but not violent.

“I doubt referee England saw enough of the incident to form a view, although he would have been aware that the players had clashed from his peripheral vision. The fourth official Michael Salisbury appeared to be looking straight at the incident and to feed in the information.”

The tell-tale sign is that he reaches for a switch on his waist, which he needs to release to open up his microphone. Fourth officials generally keep this switched off so the referee is not distracted by the barrage of nonsensical questions from the technical areas.

“One of the challenges for officials judging violent conduct, both in real time and on video replays, is that there are few such incidents, which in turn means there are few reference points.

“Last season we saw three players sent off for briefly holding an opponent’s hair and three for kicking up into an opponent’s groin from below, much like Foden did in the Manchester derby.

“A summer review led to a more relaxed view on brief, inadvertent hair-pulling, but the game seems settled on the view that actions such as Foden’s deserve red cards. Let’s see what the independent Key Match Incident panel says when its latest findings are released this week.

“In the past year, there has only been one incident remotely like this, where one player deliberately trips or kicks out at a player going away from them. There was a great deal more force from Estevao of Chelsea when he brought down Gabriel Gudmundsson of Leeds United, but he only saw yellow. The referee? Darren England [same as Brighton vs Arsenal].”