Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was pissed off with the officers after watching his aspect draw 1-1 with Brighton and Hove Albion on the Emirates Stadium, having performed nearly all of the second half with 10 males.
Declan Rice was despatched off for a second bookable offence after 49 minutes for delaying the restart from a Brighton free-kick, leaving Arteta to query the consistency of the referee’s decision-making.
“If that occurs all through the sport in a constant approach that’s fantastic,” he instructed TNT Sports activities in a post-match interview.
“However it didn’t occur. Within the first half, there have been quite a lot of events the place they kicked the ball away and nothing occurred.
“It’s inconsistency and it’s in an space the place it’s not crucial. You made that decision and you must give a pink card.
“If we’ve to play with 10, they must play with 10 as nicely.”
Brighton finish Arsenal’s eight-match successful run within the Premier League #ARSBHA #TheKickOff pic.twitter.com/AWm1MdnDmM
— Premier League (@premierleague) August 31, 2024
Regardless of his annoyance on the pink card, Arteta was capable of finding positives within the efficiency of his crew.
Arsenal went 1-0 up after 38 minutes by way of Kai Havertz’s second objective of the season, earlier than conceding a second-half equaliser following Rice’s dismissal.
“We began the sport actually good, created three or 4 massive probabilities,” he mentioned.
“We began the second half actually good, had some good moments and momentum and clearly that call modifications the sport utterly.
“It was unbelievable the way in which the crew reacted [after the goal] with 10 males, enjoying 48 minutes, we must always have gained the sport.”
Brighton supervisor Fabian Hurzeler, in the meantime, had a distinct opinion to his counterpart.
“It was a pink card, he shoots the ball away. He was losing time,” mentioned Hurzeler in his post-match press convention.
“If Arsenal suppose in any other case, there are actually two opinions.”
When requested a couple of related incident wherein Joao Pedro appeared to keep away from punishment for kicking the ball away, Hurzeler steered the 2 occasions weren’t like-for-like.
“You’ll be able to’t evaluate the 2 conditions,” he mentioned.
“In soccer, two conditions are by no means the identical. I used to be booked as a result of I used to be complaining concerning the deal with in opposition to Joel [Veltman] within the first half. We will settle for it’s within the Premier League, it’s a yellow card, however I feel nobody can complain if the referee offers the pink card.”
