Declan Rice escaped a potential red card after appearing to kick out at Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Malick Yalcouye during Arsenal’s 3-0 loss.
Video footage from the encounter seems to show the Arsenal midfielder lashing out at Yalcouye off the ball moments before referee Darren England brought the match to an end.
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The 27-year-old was instead handed a yellow card in the seventh minute of stoppage time for what was considered unsporting behaviour. Five yellow cards were shown throughout the match, with four of them coming for the same offence.
Rice’s incident has since drawn comparisons with the circumstances surrounding Phil Foden’s dismissal in the Manchester derby the previous weekend.
Declan Rice gets bodied, so has a tantrum and kicks the Brighton player…
Any other player at any other club, that’s a straight red card and 3 match ban. Textbook.
Never for Arsenal though! 😂 pic.twitter.com/d63kr6u8q1
— Football Confidential 🌐 (@footballconfid1) September 19, 2026
The late confrontation became one of the biggest talking points of the game, with Rice appearing to make a deliberate movement towards Yalcouye away from the ball.
The two players had initially been involved in a relatively harmless battle, but as Yalcouye attempted to move away, Rice appeared to deliberately extend his leg and kick towards the Brighton midfielder.
@ZakLFC7 posted on X: “How’s this any different to Foden then?” Meanwhile, @cam_nufc claimed: “It should be a red card for violent conduct, three-match ban, and he walks away with a yellow.”
@cxllumlfc100 wrote: “Might not be harmful, but he’s literally got angry and kicked out at someone. It’s a textbook red card.”
@AlekRavn added: “How on earth does Declan Rice not get a red card here? Phil Foden got a red last weekend for the same thing? Where are the referees for laughs in the Premier League? Arsenal massive gift again, again, again..”
A red card would have resulted in Rice receiving a three-game Premier League suspension, starting with Arsenal’s home meeting with Leeds United.
The midfielder would then have missed the trip to Nottingham Forest before completing his ban against Everton at the Emirates Stadium. Instead, because he was only booked, Rice remains available for selection.
That provides Mikel Arteta with one less selection concern, although the Arsenal boss will have almost a month to reflect on the disappointing defeat before his side return to competitive action.
Arteta said after the final whistle: “A really disappointing result and performance. Brighton were another gear up from us. We were extremely poor technically and not respecting the game.
“Credit to Brighton. They went up another gear. It’s a big lesson to learn. It doesn’t take away from what the team has done the last few weeks. But now we have to make sure we learn the lesson because this can happen again.”
