Arsenal fans will not be at all happy to see PGMOL chief and former Premier League referee Howard Webb defending the decision to send Declan Rice off in the recent game against Brighton.
The England international was shown a second yellow for kicking the ball away and delaying the restart, though many Arsenal fans and indeed neutrals feel it was a wildly over-the-top decision by Chris Kavanagh, who also let a similar incident from Brighton player Pedro slide in the same game.
Rice ended up being suspended for the North London Derby in what could have been a costly absence for Arsenal, though in the end they still won that game 1-0, even if they couldn’t find a way to get the winner in that game against Brighton, which finished 1-1.
See below as Webb explains why he feels Kavanagh got this controversial call right, despite so much widespread criticism of the decision…
Arsenal fans will no doubt feel they deserve a better response than this, but one imagines there will be fans from all teams who feel similarly aggrieved over the course of the season.
Referees need to make sure they’re not overreacting, or indeed missing important decisions, but it is also surely important for them not to back down too much just because certain individuals might make a lot of noise about specific incidents.
Arsenal are back in action in the Champions League tonight as they take on Atalanta, while they’ll be up against Manchester City in a Premier League title race six-pointer this weekend.
