Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice surprisingly admitted he deserved to be shown a second yellow card for delaying the restart in the 1-1 draw against Brighton.
Rice was initially left raging after being given his marching orders in unusual fashion during the Premier League clash at the Emirates.
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Having already been booked for a late tackle in the first-half, the Gunners star appeared to kick the ball away during a altercation with Joel Veltman.
The Seagulls defender motioned to take a quick free-kick after Rice conceded a foul, but then the Arsenal player poked the ball.
Veltman followed through and made contact with Rice, sending the midfielder to the turf in pain.
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However, when Rice returned to his feet, he was greeted with a yellow card from Chris Kavanagh, reducing Arsenal to ten men.
The 25-year-old stood in disbelief and protested his innocence for several minutes as boos rang around the Emirates.
Many Arsenal players initially thought the punishment would be dished out to Veltman.
Clarifying the confusing incident, the Premier League Match Centre shared an explanation on their X account.
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The post read: "The referee issued a second yellow card to Declan Rice for delaying the restart."
VAR was unable to intervene because it was a yellow card incident and not a straight red.
Rice will now miss the north London derby against Tottenham after the international break, having received the first red card of his career and a subsequent one-match ban.
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A number of Arsenal fans were quick to highlight a similar incident in the first-half involving Joao Pedro.
The Brighton striker kicked the ball away in frustration after it went out of play for a Gunners throw, but was not booked despite protestations from Mikel Arteta and a number of players.
Speaking after the game, Rice said: “I was shocked. I think you could see in my face I was shocked. I’ve not sprinted back in front of him (Veltman) and smashed the ball away. I’ve touched the ball with the outside of my foot.
“Look, this is the law of the game. If you touch the ball away, even a little bit, obviously it’s a red card after my challenge in the first half, which I fully accept was a 50-50 that I didn’t win. But the second-half one, especially with it being in the corner flag, they (Brighton) can’t really progress anywhere from there.”
Rice added: “It was tough, it was harsh, but it’s one of those things. I have to move on from it. I will be better for it and I can only praise the players for digging deep for me and the manager (Arteta) for pushing everyone, and the fans as well, who were unbelievable again this afternoon. That’s how I see it.
"That’s my first sending-off in my career, so I just wanted to apologise to my team-mates, which I’ve done, and to the fans."
This was very much in contrast to the opinion of his manager.
"I was amazed. Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be," said Arteta in his post-match press conference.
"In the first half, there are two incidents and nothing happens. Then, in a non-critical area, the ball hits Declan (on the back of his leg), he turns around, he doesn't see the player coming and he touches the ball.
"By law, he [the referee] 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."
Reacting to the Rice incident, ex-England international Stuart Pearce, who coached the midfielder at West Ham, insisted there can be no complaints.
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"It is a yellow card," Pearce said on commentary. "He's kicked the ball away and stopped the Brighton player from taking a quick free-kick.
"Declan will feel aggrieved because he will think it wasn't a free-kick in the first place, but you have to back away, you can't then kick the ball away, so he can't have any complaints."
It is an untimely blow for manager Mikel Arteta, who lost new midfield signing Mikel Merino to injury in his first training session.
Merino suffered a suspected fracture in his shoulder after an unfortunate collision with Gabriel immediately after his £32million move from Real Sociedad.
In more positive news for Arsenal, though, Bukakyo Saka matched a record set by Thierry Henry in the 2004/05 season during the draw with Brighton.
Saka became only the second Gunners player in history, after Henry, to register an assist in each of the opening three Premier League games.
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He set-up Kai Havertz' opener against the Seagulls, before Pedro equalised following the red card to Rice.
Arsenal were then forced to survive a barrage of late pressure to ensure they maintain their unbeaten start to the new season.
