Just before the international break, Brighton and Arsenal played out a 1-1 draw in the Premier League that was marred by controversy. Much of the talk surrounding the game was about Declan Rice’s second yellow for seemingly kicking the ball away.
Adding fuel to the fire, in the same game, Brighton star Joao Pedro was not given a card for a similar offense in the same game. Declan Rice should not have been carded for the offense, but if he was, then the Brazilian must have received the same treatment as well.
Eventually, Joao Pedro was booked late in the game for an argument with the referee. The €45m-rated striker did not make much out of his reprieve with the game ending in a draw but this incident has conjured a lot of chatter.
Speaking on Match Officials Mic’d Up as quoted by Football. London, Howard Webb has explained why the officials did not give Joao Pedro a yellow card for an offense similar to that of Declan Rice. Here is what he had to say:
“It’s a different type of scenario. It sits in the same kind of book around delaying the restart. Of course, he should have been cautioned here. The officials on the field gave him too much benefit of the doubt, feeling that the actions weren’t really impactful because they felt that the Arsenal players were not ready to take that throw-in.”
“They were a bit distant away from the ball and like [Joel] Veltman, who was right there, I think when we look at this it’s quite clear that the actions of Joao Pedro do have an impact. They do delay Arsenal’s ability to restart. And yes, that should have been the yellow card. And we’ve certainly messaged that back to the officials.”
Webb has made it quite clear that the officials made a mistake. Pedro should have been cautioned, just like Rice was. On the other hand, an argument can be made that neither of those actions deserves caution, should one decide to go that way.
Whatever it is, it’s time to put the situation to bed considering the teams have moved on and already played another Premier League game. Talking about an incident like this isn’t going to take either team anywhere.
However, this does bring in the question of consistency in refereeing – something that has been a sore point in leagues around Europe for quite some time now. It remains to be seen how the PGMOL handle the situation going forward.
