Rice red card was part of PGMOL summer briefing

At the start of last season, the PGMOL made an effort to stamp out ‘participant behaviour’ and that included things like delaying the restart during games.

Last campaign, yellow cards for delaying the restart nearly doubled as referees enforced that law.

This summer, clubs, players and managers were briefed that situations which were “clear, deliberate and impactful” would be penalised and that is why Declan Rice received a second yellow card on Saturday.

A lot of questions have been asked about why Brighton striker Joao Pedro was not given a yellow card in the match and Declan Rice was, with Mikel Arteta questioning the consistency of the referee’s decision making.

On the day, the referee must have felt not all those points were ticked to warrant a caution.

Albion manager Fabian Hurzeler said you “couldn’t compare” the two incidents and the referee, unfortunately for Arsenal fans, saw it the same way.