Rice’s dismissal will cost Arsenal a draw against Brighton

Declan Rice’s sending off for a double yellow card at the start of the second half, which left Arsenal with ten, changed everything: it boosted Brighton, who made up for the one-goal deficit with whom they had been there until then, and it disturbed the team of Mikel Arteta who, like his rival, gave up the first points of the season.

The Emirates in London hosted the duel between two of the four teams who won outright before the start of the third day of the Premier League along with Manchester City and Liverpool. Arsenal had previously beaten Wolverhampton and Aston Villa. Brighton, Everton and Manchester United. The fourth dominated the classification.

The face-off between the Gunners and the Seagulls was left without a winner as decisive action turned around a game that was clearly dominated, in the game and on the scoreboard, by the Londoners.

And it was at the beginning of the second half, with the result against Arsenal due to Kai Havertz’s goal. Declan Rice, who already had a warning for a hard challenge on Joel Veltman, saw another card in an absurd action, in the 49th minute for moving the ball before his rival took a foul. A red card as absurd and unnecessary as it is fair given the rules at hand.

The script took a turn and everything changed. Saka had a chance to go away in the eighth minute which was blocked by goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, who ended up supporting the German team Fabian Hürzeler. And Arsenal won their goal from the start. He found the reward for wanting in the latter part of the first half, in the 38th minute, when Havertz received a pass from Bukayo Saka who won an aerial ball from Lewis Dunk and crossed to the German. Havertz explained it perfectly. He picked up the ball before the goal came out.

Before the break Leandro Trossard was able to extend London’s lead but Verbruggen appeared again to thwart Arsenal.

And then came the play that changed everything. The unnecessary red card made Arteta’s evening bitter. Because indirectly, he also encouraged Brighton, who went firmly for the equalizer which came shortly before the hour mark. A great, calculated, amazing pass from his area by Lewis Dunk left Yankube Minteh alone to head David Raya’s goal between the central defenders. He shot but was saved by the Spanish goalkeeper who could do nothing on the rebound that Joao Pedro collected to take the ball into the net.

It was Brighton for the win. Hurtzeler’s painting had a unique opportunity. Raya came forward, appearing as the savior of the London team just like Verbruggen, who blocked the brightest chance of the game, in the boots of the Gunners, in the boots of Havertz.

The German striker received a long pass and faced the goalkeeper who put his foot out as the ball went in and blocked the goal. Then appeared Raya, with the game open, to prevent Brighton from scoring with a shot from Yasin Ayari.

None won and none lost. But both of them stayed halfway. A step back for the ambitious Arsenal who, like Brighton, can go away from City or Liverpool if they win their matches on the third day.

Match page:

1 – Arsenal: David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Jurrien Timber (Oleksandr Zinchenko, m.80); Martin Odegaard (Gabriel Martinelli, m.73), Thomas Partey, Declan Rice; Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard (Ricardo Calafiori, m.59) and Kai Havertz.

1 – Brighton: Bart Verbruggen; Joel Veltman (Pervis Estupiñán, m.72), Jan Paul Van Hecke, Lewis Dunk, Jack Hinshelwood; James Milner (Yasin Ayari, m.17), Carlos Baleba; Yankube Minteh (Georginio Rutter, m.72), Joao Pedro, Kaoru Mitoma (Simon Adringra, m.85); y Danny Welbeck (Julio Enciso, m.85).

Objectives: 1-0, m.38: Kai Havertz. 1-1, m.58: Joao Pedro.

A manager: Chris Kavanagh. He sent off Declan Rice, from Arsenal, for a double yellow card (m.49) and showed yellow cards to his teammates Thomas Partey, Jurrien Timber and David Raya and Yankube Minteh and Joao Pedro, from Brighton.

events: Matchday three of the Premier League played at the Emirates Stadium in London in front of around 60,000 spectators.