Declan Rice avoided a red card for kicking out at Brighton’s Malick Yalcouye in the final seconds of his team’s heavy 3-0 defeat in the Premier League .

The England midfielder lashed out after being closed down by Yalcouye, swiping at his opponent’s legs after he had passed the ball towards the wing.

Yalcouye fell to the turf and appealed towards referee Darren England, who saw the incident and gave Rice a yellow card.

But Rice could consider himself lucky that he escaped further punishment after incidents involving Manchester City’s Phil Foden and Aston Villa’s Joao Gomes this season.

Foden was sent off for kicking out at Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes last weekend, while Gomes received red following a VAR review for kicking Brighton’s Georginio Rutter.

Both of those incidents saw the offender kick up while lying with their back on the ground, while Rice’s kick came while he and Yalcouye were both running.

Yalcouye, a second-half substitute for Brighton, appeared to lean into Rice after the midfielder had passed the ball, leading to his trip on Yalcouye.

With Brighton leading 3-0 at the Amex, the match clock had ticked past the 96th minute when Rice lashed out after six minutes had been added on.