Declan Rice has apologised to his colleagues for his contentious sending off during Arsenal’s Saturday 1-1 draw with Brighton.

Early in the second half, ref referee Chris Kavanagh quickly displayed the Gunners’ midfielder a second yellow early in order to supposedly stop Joel Veltman from grabbing a quick free-kιck.

With the second yellow ending in the England international’s first sending-off of his career, rice had already been booked for a nasty challenge on Veltman in the first half of the encounter at the Emirates.

A regretful Rice considered the red, first tendering apologies to his colleagues in a post-match interview before owning his behaviour. 

‘I suppose on my side, that’s my first [career] sending off, so I just wаnted to apologise clearly to the fans and my colleagues,’ he said.

‘When you get sent off, it’s never nice, you get a sense of guilt over you, and I was lucky today that my teammates really helped me out and we didn’t lose the game. I’ll learn from it.’

Despite his contrition, Rice admitted he was surprised to be sent-off for a an infraction he perceived to be quite minor.

It proved to be a particular low-note in the game that had a frustrating finish for Arsenal, who had led through Kai Havertz in the first half. 

But Brighton’s Joao Pedro – who Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta thought should’ve been penalised for a similar incident in the first half after the Brazilian kicked the ball away – equalised on the 58th minute.

The result means both teams retain their unbeaten start to the season, having both notched two wins from their first two matches.