Arsenal fans were not impressed when former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher defended the official’s decision on the Declan Rice incident against Brighton and they will be even less so after an old clip did the rounds on social media.
The Gunners dropped points for the first time this season as they drew 1-1 with the Seagulls at the Emirates on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta’s men were in control with a 1-0 lead before Declan Rice was shown a second yellow card for tapping the ball away as Joel Veltman attempted to take a free-kick shortly after half-time.
Veltman proceeded to kick the England midfielder but it was only Rice who was punished.
Speaking on Ref Watch on Sky Sports Gallagher said the referee had got it right by the letter of the law.
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‘The players were told at the start of the season that if you delay the restart, you run the risk [of a booking], it was quite clear.
‘You think someone else should’ve got a yellow card, but that doesn’t exonerate what he did. Two things don’t help him.
‘He knows what he’s doing, and secondly the touchline – people say he didn’t knock it very far, but he knocks it off the field and so they definitely can’t restart play. Chris Kavanagh has got nowhere to go. The second yellow is mandatory.’
Gallagher did not say that he believed Veltman should have suffered the same fate for forcefully kicking the Arsenal man.
And fans have found an clip of him commenting on a similar moment back in 2001 in which he had a very different view.
Also on Ref Watch, Gallagher was analysing a moment where Luton’s Henri Lansbury escaped red card for brutal kick on Swansea’s Ryan Manning after he tapped the ball away.
He said: ‘could of, should of. You can use either word can’t you. I just don’t know why it’s not a red card. I think everybody watching that would say that’s a red card. The player would say I was gonna try and kick the ball because it was our free-kick but you do that, you put a boot as hard as that into somebody, I feel it’s got to be a red card.’
