Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere should have been sent off, says Southampton manager Mark Hughes

Saints defender Jack Stephens was sent off for shoving Wilshere, before Mohamed Elneny was also dismissed for raising his hands at Cedric Soares in the ensuing melee

Jack Stephens was sent off in the incident with Jack Wilshere (Getty Images)

Mark Hughes believes that Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere should have been sent off at the tempestuous end to Southampton’s 3-2 defeat at the Emirates on Sunday.

Saints defender Jack Stephens was sent off for shoving Wilshere, before Mohamed Elneny was also dismissed for raising his hands at Cedric Soares in the ensuing melee. But Hughes claimed that Wilshere attempted to knee Stephens in retaliation to being pushed, and that Andre Marriner should have sent him off for that.

“I think there should have been another [red card], I think Wilshere should have been sent off,” Hughes said in his post-match press conference. “Jack Stephens has obviously reacted to being pulled back for about 20 yards, which is not correct, but is understandable. But I felt, if you’re going to send Jack [Stephens] off, you have to send Wilshere off for bouncing up. I thought I saw a definite movement with his knee towards Jack, so the referee should have seen that.”

Hughes was impressed by Southampton’s performance which he said was a “marked contrast” from their dismal 3-0 defeat at West Ham United last Saturday. But he was frustrated that after Charlie Austin’s equaliser to make it 2-2, that his players could not hang on and take a point. “The only criticism is that when you get back on level terms, you need to have that clarity of thought in terms of making sure you take something out of the game. Maybe that’s the only criticism, given the effort and what we’ve produced, we need to take something out of every game we play. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that. It’s very difficult: it’s the emotion, it’s the adrenaline, and sometimes you don’t do the correct things immediately after getting back on level terms. But that’s the emotion of sport.”

Arsene Wenger hailed the two-goal contribution of Danny Welbeck, back to fitness again after having a difficult time with injuries again this season. “Danny is getting sharper after being out for a while,” he said. “He has gone through a difficult time, but I saw how we behaved when it was really hard and tough. He deserves everything he gets now. He had every reason to feel sorry for himself, that this mountain might be too big to climb. Right knee, left knee, a year out each time. People were questioning if he will come back or not, it is the most difficult test for any sports person. I believe what he has done is exceptional.”

Wenger confirmed that Henrikh Mkhitaryan suffered medial knee ligament damage on Thursday and will miss the next few weeks, but still has a chance of playing again this season.