Micah Richards says Arsenal suffered ‘one of the worst decisions ever seen’ against Brighton on Saturday in an angry rant about referee Chris Kavanagh.
Declan Rice was handed a red card during the 1-1 draw at the Emirates, with Arsenal legend Ian Wright launching a verbal attack on Kavanagh at full-time.
Rice kicked the ball away as Joel Veltman was about to take a free kick – in what was his second booking offence – after being handed a yellow earlier in the game.
Richards has become the latest football pundit to take aim at Kavanagh, labelling his decision to send off Rice as one of the worst in the history of the top-flight.
‘I feel completely different to the way you guys (Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer) feel,’ former Manchester City defender Richards, who openly supports Arsenal, told The Rest Is Football podcast on Monday.
‘I think that was one of the worst decisions I have ever seen. Letter of the law? First point, (Brighton forward) Joao Pedro kicked the ball away. He kicked the ball away! He didn’t get a yellow card.’
Alan Shearer told Richards that Pedro avoided a yellow because the ball was already off the pitch but the Arsenal fan was having none of it.
‘It doesn’t matter!’ Richards added. ‘Mike 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.’