Rice will serve a one-match suspension for the North London Derby over the weekend after being shown a second yellow card in the second half of the 1-1 draw against the Seagulls. He was cautioned for failing to retreat from a Brighton free-kick.
“It was mad,” Jorginho said on the Seaman Says podcast when the incident was mentioned. He then pointed to another incident earlier in the game when Brighton’s Jaoao Pedro wasn’t booked for kicking the ball away.
“You’re saying the law, but something else happened during the game didn’t it? If the law is there, it’s there for both of us right?”
Jorginho added that it’s the lack of consistency in decisions that sometimes gets the better of players on the pitch. But he has outlined how he can handle potential frustration if selected for the North London Derby. “It’s tough, it’s human, as you said, but some things are so clear as well,” he said.
“We talk about handling the frustration and controlling the emotion, but sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s really hard. It is what it is, sometimes you just got to move on and just try to get better.”
For Jorginho, the red card, and subsequent suspension for Rice means that he could be drafted into the starting line-up for the North London Derby. When it was mentioned that it leaves the door open for him, he laughed and said: “You’ll have to ask Mikel (Arteta) that.”
But the midfielder is expecting an occasion to remember, adding: “It’s a special game for both sides, it’s possibly going to be a really, really good game.”
Arsenal will also be without new signing Mikel Merino for the game with the midfielder recovering from a shoulder injury. Fellow midfielder and club captain Martin Odegaard is expected to be out too after picking up an ankle injury in Norway’s Nations League clash against Austria on Tuesday night.
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