Declan Rice sent off in one of most bizarre red cards in Premier League history

Declan Rice was sent off in extraordinary circumstances in the second half of Arsenal’s match against Brighton on Saturday.

The defender, who had been shown a yellow card for a late tackle in the first half, received a second yellow at the start of the second half for seemingly nudging the ball away from Brighton’s Joel Veltman after play had been stopped.

The situation became more bizarre after Veltman’s responded to Rice’s touch of the ball by following through and clattering Rice.

As Rice went down to ground, holding his leg, the home supporters called for Veltman to be sent off and it was huge shock when the referee, Chris Kavanagh,produced a red card for Rice.

Arsenal were leading 1-0 at the time and Brighton scored an equaliser through Joao Pedro nine minutes later.

The Premier League has said the second yellow was for delaying the restart.

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