Rio Ferdinand decided to poke fun at Arsenal on X after the referee’s controversial decision to send Declan Rice off on Saturday.
The Gunners dropped their first points of this Premier League season on Saturday afternoon, drawing 1-1 with Brighton at the Emirates Stadium in a game which left a sour taste in the mouths of Arsenal supporters.
Kai Havertz opened the scoring just before the half-time break, lobbing the outrushing goalkeeper after a through ball from Bukayo Saka with the two forwards demonstrating their chemistry once again.
But the game then took an unexpected turn when Rice was shown a second yellow card after he was deemed to have delayed the restart by tapping the ball away.
Furious with his decision, Arsenal fans and subsequently players pointed to an incident in the first-half where Joao Pedro booted the ball away after it went out over the sideline but was left unpunished.
Posting on X after the incident, the Manchester United legend posted a clip of the Brighton man kicking the ball away with the caption, “What’s Arteta doing outside his technical area?”.
What’s Arteta doing outside his technical area? https://t.co/M5pwaAu03N
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) August 31, 2024
The caption references a running complaint about the Arsenal boss over the past few seasons after he was consistently penalised for standing outside of his technical area.
The Gunners will have to wait until the 15th of September to set things back in motion when they face Tottenham Hotspur but will they will have to make do without the suspended Rice.
