Joel Veltman, who was involved in an altercation with Declan Rice during Arsenal’s recent 1-1 draw with
Brighton, has spoken out about the Gunners star’s red card. The two players made headlines a few weeks ago when Rice was given a second yellow during Arsenal’s hotly contested match against the Seagulls. Many were left astonished inside the Emirates Stadium, and Rice will now miss Sunday’s trip to Tottenham in the North London derby following a unanimous decision on the matter.
Referee Chris Kavanagh’s judgment was controversial, and Veltman acknowledged as much in an interview with Sky Sports regarding the controversial dismissal earlier this week.
“For me it goes really far with common things on social media and we have a game coming up so I don’t want to say a lot about it, but the only thing I can say is that I didn’t want to kick him,” he stated.
All I did was kick him after he kicked it away.
“You can see from my reaction that I felt it was rather harsh; I did not approach the referee to get a second yellow card.
“I think Rice made a fantastic statement to the media following the game that really shocked me: ‘I didn’t need to kick it, I know better.'”
“That’s amazing personality from him.”
During the most recent international break, Rice played for the Three Lions. He scored in England’s 2-0 victory against the Republic of Ireland and then participated for the whole ninety minutes of the team’s 2-0 victory over Finland.
The 25-year-old, who sustained an injury for Norway on Monday, will miss Arsenal’s trip to Spurs along with skipper Martin Odegaard.
After suffering a serious injury during Italy’s Nations League match against France, Riccardo Calafiori is also questionable.
Mikel Arteta’s team is undefeated so far this season, and they will be looking to improve on their second-place result from 2023–24.
Raheem Sterling, an experienced forward, joined from Chelsea on the day of the deadline and may make his debut this coming weekend.
Regarding Sterling, the Arsenal manager stated last month, “Yes, we’ll have to see and speak to him on what he’s been doing and how he’s feeling about it.”
In order to get him up to speed as soon as possible and help him grasp the dynamics of the team as well as what is expected of him, we must look for rapid wins.
“We’ll take advantage of this opportunity to accomplish that and involve him as soon as we can.
Credit for the Featured Image: Sky Sports
Subjects: Declan Rice, Brighton & Hove Albion, Arsenal
Declan Rice, an Arsenal midfielder, was controversially given a red card against Brighton, but an independent panel reached a unanimous conclusion.
Referee Chris Kavanagh sent 25-year-old Rice off during the August 31 Premier League encounter at the Emirates, which resulted in a 1-1 tie.
In the 49th minute of the game, Rice was already on a yellow card when he rolled the ball away from Joel Veltman, who then kicked through the England international as he attempted to take a quick free-kick. Rice was then given a second booking for the incident.
The first-ever red card in his career infuriated Rice, and the ensuing one-match suspension kept him out of Saturday’s north London derby against Tottenham.
In his post-match interview, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta expressed his ire at Kavanagh and the other referees.
