William Gallas believes the Premier League should look to change refereeing rules following Declan Rice’s controversial red card for Arsenal against Brighton & Hove Albion.

Rice was shown the first red card of his career during the 1-1 draw with the Seagulls on Saturday, a decision which left manager Mikel Arteta “amazed”. The 25-year-old was shown a second yellow by referee Chris Kavanagh after subtly kicking the ball away as Joel Veltman went to take a quick free-kick.

“I was amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be,” Arteta said after the game. “In the first half, there are two incidents and nothing happens. Then, in a non-critical area, the ball hits Declan, he turns around, he doesn’t see the player coming and he touches the ball.

“By law, he can make that call, but then by law he needs to make the next call, which is red card so we play 10 vs 10. This is what amazed me. At this level it’s amazing.”

While former referee Dermot Gallagher defended Kavanagh’s decision, Micah Richards described it as “one of the worst decisions I have ever seen”. Gary Neville also described the red card as “soft”, while Jamie Carragher insisted he would have liked the referee to use a bit of “game management”.

Former Arsenal defender William Gallas has gone one step further and believes the Premier League should change how VAR is used to prevent similar incidents happening in the future. Under current rules, VAR cannot intervene when a second yellow card is shown.

 

As per the Premier League website, the current rules on VAR and red cards are: “All red cards awarded in the Premier League are automatically checked by the VAR. The VAR also checks for possible red-card incidents for which the on-field referee has awarded a yellow card or no card at all.”

The rules add: “The VAR is NOT permitted within the VAR protocol to intervene for an incident where a second yellow card leads to a red card, unless the VAR believes the second yellow card should be upgraded to a direct red.” So, in Rice’s case, the VAR was not allowed to intervene because he was shown a second yellow card, and not a straight red card.

Gallas, however, believes this is wrong. Speaking to Gambling Zone, the former Premier League defender said: “The red card for Declan Rice was a confusing one, he didn’t deserve the second yellow card and red card. I know they couldn’t use VAR, but maybe they should re-think the rules.

“I still think that after the red card, Arsenal should’ve had enough to win the game without him. Brighton are a good side but when you’re trying to win the title you have to beat them at home. Football is simple and if you want to reach the level of Manchester City, you have to win these games.”