Watch: Referee made candid confession as audio from Declan Rice red card is released

Referee Chris Kavanagh told Declan Rice he did not like the rule he was obliged to follow as he had ‘no choice’ other than to send off the Arsenal midfielder in last month's 1-1 draw with Brighton at Emirates Stadium.

Rice was already on a booking when he kicked the ball away and stopped Brighton taking a free-kick, with the audio from the referees conversation with the England midfielder now released as part of the ‘Match Officials Mic'd Up’ programme.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was furious with the decision and it is now clear that the officials involved were not happy to hand out the second yellow card to Rice.

"I don't like it I don't like it,” Kavanagh told Rice before he added: “Dec, you need to go I'm afraid."

Referees chief Howard Webb insisted referee Kavanagh made the right choice, with players told they would be booked for kicking the ball away.

"He's clearly seen Declan Rice commit a foul, then kick the ball away from an opponent in the process of taking a free-kick," said Webb.

"We've messaged - clearly and strongly - to the players in pre-season about the importance of not getting involved with the ball once the whistle has gone, not delaying the restart in that way.

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"We've said we would be consistent in the way we have handled this, in the same way we did last season. The number of yellow cards for delaying the restart nearly doubled last season. Because people want to see the game with tempo and flow.

"Once he has seen Declan Rice deliberately and clearly kick the ball away from the position of that free-kick then I don't think he has any choice but to send him off.

"It may have been rolling, but Declan Rice still felt the need to kick that ball away," he said.

"It still has that impact and we have to look at what the player does in that situation. He acts in a way that is very clear, he makes a decision to take the ball away from the opponent.

"It's the referee's job to deal with everything else, but in this situation, the actions of Rice were designed to delay the restart so therefore I don't think he can have any complaints when his actions resulted in a yellow card.

"In that situation, the referee focuses on Rice's actions and determines he has to deal with him because those actions are intentionally designed to kick the ball away when he had no business going near the ball in the first place.

"Having given away a free-kick, Rice knows he has got to get away and let that free-kick be taken and the referee deals with everything else."