'Common sense' - Arsenal star Declan Rice gets ruthless scolding by Dermot Gallagher for red card

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has rubbished the idea that 'common sense' should have been employed to stop Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice receiving a second yellow in Saturday's Premier League clash against Brighton.

The England international was sent for an early shower after just 49 minutes having committed two bookable offences. Rice had already seen yellow for a challenge on Joel Veltman shortly before half time and picked up another just minutes into the second half for delaying a Brighton free kick.

The Arsenal man knocked the ball ever so slightly to delay Veltman taking a free kick but that intervention was deemed enough for a second booking. After the match, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta admitted he was 'amazed' by the decision and when appearing on SkySports' RefWatch, Gallagher was asked if perhaps referee Chris Kavanagh should have applied 'common sense'.

Gallagher replied: "They were told at the start of the season, the briefing was clear, that if you delay the restart you run the risk... Two things didn't help him, if you look he knows what he's doing. Secondly, the touchline, because he knocks it. He doesn't knock it very far but he knocks it off the field, so he definitely can't restart play. Referee Chris Kavanagh has nowhere to go really, he had a yellow card for a lunging tackle in the first half, second yellow card mandatory, gets sent off.

"Common sense and refereeing don't actually go hand in hand do they? When a referee uses common sense, I come in on a Monday and say well hang on, we saw this given and got told this. The common sense is to avoid the issue. He's used common sense in my view, which is to apply the law correctly and he has done."

Rice will now miss the upcoming North London derby against Tottenham Hotspur as he serves a one-match ban. Arsenal were leading Brighton 1-0 at the time of the red card but the visitors equalised just nine minutes later to bring the score to 1-1 as the sides picked up a point each.

Speaking after the game, Arteta said: "I was amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be. In the first half, there are two incidents and nothing happens.

"Then, in a non-critical area, the ball hits Declan [on the back of his leg], he turns around, he doesn't see the player coming and he touches the ball. By law, he can make that call, but then by law he needs to make the next call, which is a red card so we play 10vs10. This is what amazed me. At this level it's amazing."