Mark Hughes welcomes FA decision to charge Chelsea's Marcos Alonso

The Spaniard initially escaped punishment from referee Mike Dean after appearing to stand on Long's calf during Saturday's clash at St Mary's

Marcos Alonso has been charged by the FA (Getty)

Southampton manager Mark Hughes has welcomed the Football Association's decision to charge Chelsea's Marcos Alonso with violent conduct following his late tackle on Shane Long.

Alonso initially escaped punishment from referee Mike Dean after appearing to stand on Long's calf during Saturday's Premier League clash at St Mary's.

Relegation-threatened Saints were 2-0 up at that point, but went on to lose 3-2, conceding three times in the space of eight second-half minutes.

Hughes hit out at the standard of top-flight refereeing in the wake of the costly defeat, but is pleased retrospective action has been taken.

"I said after the game I thought it needed to be looked at, not really trying to get somebody in trouble, but I just felt it was a bad challenge," said Hughes, whose side travel to Leicester on Thursday. "It has been looked at again and I think there is a quick turnaround on these things so we should hear if there is a suspension put in place. I think it was the right call.

"Clearly it was a poor challenge and should have been seen by the officials. The fourth official, assistant referee and the referee were all pretty close to it. The decision in my view would have been the boy would have been sent off and the circumstances of the game would have been different.

"That's gone now and we cannot do anything about that unfortunately."

Blues defender Alonso will face a ban if found guilty of the charge, meaning he could miss out when the two sides meet again in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

Saints face a crucial league game against Leicester before then.

Hughes has lost all three league matches since replacing Mauricio Pellegrino last month and his 18th-placed side head to the the King Power Stadium five points adrift of safety with five games remaining.

Giroud came off the bench to consign Southampton to yet another defeat (Getty)

The Welshman believes the severity of the situation should sharpen the focus of his players.

"We have five games left where clearly we are up to the edge - we need to understand that, I think we clearly do now and that enables us to have a better focus," he added. "The message is to enjoy the challenge. It's not an easy situation, but don't be cowed by it, just get out there and show people what you are about.

"You have the opportunity to make a statement every time you put the shirt on. There is a lot of talk about fear of failure.

"My interpretation of that is you should not allow people the opportunity to criticise you and use that motivation to drive yourself on to bigger and better things."