Mikel Arteta 'amazed' by Declan Rice sending off against Brighton

Mikel Arteta was "amazed" by the decision of Chris Kavanagh to show Declan Rice the first red card of his career and insisted it changed the game after Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Brighton.

Arsenal looked on course for all three points when Kai Havertz put them ahead in the 38th minute, but Rice received his marching orders 11 minutes later.

Referee Kavanagh showed Rice a second yellow card after the England international subtly kicked away the ball from a Brighton free-kick by the corner flag to delay the restart.

No caution was given to Joel Veltman, who caught Rice in his follow through, and Arsenal failed to hold on with 10-men as Joao Pedro equalised with 58 minutes played and it ended 1-1 in front of a fired up Emirates Stadium crowd.

Arteta bemoaned Kavanagh's decision and appeared to suggest Pedro, who was later cautioned, should have been given a yellow card in the 18th minute when he kicked the ball away after it had gone out for a throw.

"I was amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be," Arteta reflected.

"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."

It had been a dramatic 24 hours for Arsenal with the season-long loan signing of Raheem Sterling only confirmed at 1.45am on Saturday, while three other previous key performers departed on the final day of the summer window.

Sterling watched new club team-mate Bukayo Saka start in menacing fashion, but the hosts did not take the