Mark Hughes felt there should have been a third red card in Saints’ 3-2 defeat at Arsenal.

A dramatic game had a remarkable finish as both Jack Stephens and Mohamed Elneny were sent off in stoppage time.

Stephens reacted to being dragged back by Jack Wilshere, while Elneny lost his temper with Cedric Soares.

However, Hughes felt that Wilshere should also have been given his marching orders by referee Andre Marriner.

He said: “I think there should have been another one. I think Wilshere should have been sent off.

“Jack Stephens has reacted to being pulled back for about 20 yards, which is understandable. “It’s not correct but it’s understandable to a certain extent.

“But I felt if you are going to send Jack off then you have to send off Wilshere for bouncing up and I thought I saw a definite movement of his knee towards Jack.

“The referee should have seen that and should have sent them both off.

“Elneny has raised his hand to Cedric’s face and that’s a sending off clearly.

“Maybe there should have been three.”

As it was a straight red card Saints will now lose Stephens to suspension.

That will clearly be a blow to Saints, who may have wished to replicate the back five formation that served them well at the Emirates Stadium when Chelsea visit St Mary’s at the weekend.

However, with Stephens sidelined, playing that way again will either mean moving a player out of position, or thrusting Jan Bednarek in to the action.

That would be a huge call given his lack of football this season.

Whatever happens, Hughes will be hoping his side can continue the positive feeling they managed to muster despite their narrow defeat to the Gunners.

And that next time if they manage a moment such as Charlie Austin’s dramatic equaliser to make it 2-2 just moments after he came off the bench that they won’t then wobble at the other end and wind up conceding a goal, as they did to Danny Welbeck for what proved to be the winner.

“It happens time and time again,” sighed Hughes.

“It’s one trait that we are sorely guilty of and for a lot of teams it happens time and time again.

“It’s very difficult, it’s emotion, it’s the adrenaline and sometimes you don’t do the correct things immediately after getting back on level terms.

“That’s the emotion of sport I suppose.”