The Premier League’s Independent Key Match Incidents Panel has confirmed that referee Chris Kavanagh’s decision to issue a red card to Declan Rice during Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on August 31 was correct.
Rice, who was already on a yellow card, was involved in an incident with Joël Veltman.
As Veltman prepared to take a free kick, Rice deliberately kicked the ball off the pitch, prompting Kavanagh to show him a second yellow card for delaying the restart.
According to ESPN’s review of the panel’s findings, “Rice knows what he’s doing, it’s a gentle touch but once the referee sees it, he has no choice.”
The panel, which consists of five members including three former players and/or coaches, along with one representative each from the Premier League and PGMOL, was established at the beginning of the 2022-23 season.
Its role is to provide an independent review of major match incidents, focusing on the referee’s decision-making rather than solely the perspectives of PGMOL or the clubs involved.
The KMI panel reached a “unanimous agreement” that Rice’s actions were “clear, deliberate and impactful,” thus validating Kavanagh’s decision to send Rice off for a second yellow card.
In addition, the panel backed referee Jarred Gillett’s decision not to issue a second yellow card to Crystal Palace’s Will Hughes in their match against Chelsea on September 1.
Hughes had obstructed Cole Palmer near the edge of the penalty area. The panel’s decision was based on a 3-2 split vote, concluding that while Hughes’ action constituted a holding offense, it did not meet the criteria for stopping a promising attack due to the positioning of a Palace defender.
This season has seen relatively few controversies in the Premier League. Notably, there has been only one instance where a VAR decision was deemed incorrect, Tim Robinson’s intervention to disallow Dango Ouattara’s injury-time goal for handball in AFC Bournemouth’s match against Newcastle United on August 25.
Other than this, the KMI panel identified two penalty decisions that were incorrect on the field but did not meet the threshold for VAR intervention; Referee Tony Harrington’s penalty awarded to West Ham United against Aston Villa was deemed incorrect, and Ipswich Town should have received a penalty in their match against Manchester City.
In the first three matchdays, the VAR reviewed 84 key incidents, with only nine out of 420 votes indicating an error by the video assistant.
Notably, five of these votes were unanimous in agreeing that Bournemouth’s disallowed goal should have stood.
