What Declan Rice said to referees after Bournemouth defeat as he tells Arsenal squad ‘standards have slipped’

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Arsenal were handed a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Bournemouth, and midfielder Declan Rice was not happy with what he saw.

William Saliba was sent off in the first half after VAR encouraged referee Rob Jones to change his yellow card to a red for denying Bournemouth striker Evanilson a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Bournemouth then took the lead in the second half with an excellent goal from Ryan Christie, before they doubled the lead through a penalty given away by David Raya after a poor backpass from Jakub Kiwior.

Saliba’s red card was controversial given how far away from goal the incident was, and this was Arsenal’s third red card of the season, which has angered Rice, who confronted the match officials at full time.

• READ MORE: The eight worst Arsenal VAR decisions of all time in Premier League games

Declan Rice confronts referees after Arsenal defeat to Bournemouth

At the full time whistle, Rice could be seen heading over to confront the match officials, who gave Arsenal another controversial red card.

“Every week it’s the same,” Rice fumed at referee Rob Jones and VAR Stuart Attwell, in reference to the decisions given against his side this season.

Whilst some may argue Saliba’s red was fair, the fact that VAR overturned the original call is a point of contention, as it may not have been a clear and obvious error.

Arsenal have dropped points in all three games in which they have been reduced to 10, and Rice has encouraged his teammates to sharpen up in this regard.

Declan Rice encourages Arsenal to learn from red cards

Speaking to reporters after the game, Rice was honest in his admission that Arsenal were not good enough on the day, and also highlighted the red cards as a problem.

“I think the way we reacted again, going down to 10 men was not ideal, we knew that as a group of players, we’ve just said in there [the dressing room], that’s three times in eight games that we’ve let our standards slip and if you want to compete at the top you cannot let that happen,” Rice stated after the game.

Rice was sent off against Brighton, before Leandro Trossard’s dismissal at Manchester City and Saliba’s red card today meant Arsenal have been a man down, and dropped points three times in eight games, and they cannot continue in this way if they are to win the Premier League title.