Mark Clattenburg has suggested that Southampton's Jack Stephens should have no complaints over his red card after his act of violent conduct during the Premier League game with Chelsea.
The 30-year-old was sent-off by Tony Harrington in the first half for pulling Marc Cucurella's hair from behind. The referee was called to the monitor and deemed it worthy of a red card for violent conduct.
Commentator Stephen Warnock said of the incident: "Well he hasn't gone down for no reason. He's pulled his hair. Now, people will say that was minimal, but it doesn't matter. He's within his rights to go down, and make the most of it."
Meanwhile, Ian Darke, who was also on commentary duty for Amazon's Prime Video, added: "Cucurella has made the most of it, hasn't he? Going down and staying down.
"But he has pulled his hair. It's going to be red, it's going to be red. Jack Stephens has gone and that you have to say, it's very silly."
The incident happened when Chelsea led 3-1 at St. Mary's Stadium after goals from Axel Disasi, Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke. Former top-flight referee Clattenburg was called to explain the decision.
He said: "It's certainly an act of craziness. It's interesting because not every pull it's going to be deemed a foul - or a yellow or red card. But when you pull someone's hair, it's not a footballing action. You pull somebody's shirt but not somebody's hair.
"He's paid the price for violent conduct by pulling the hair in a violent way and therefore he's going to receive a red card and a three-match ban."
It wasn't the first time that Cucurella had his hair pulled in a game. Mike Dean has, previously, revealed he should have recommended Anthony Taylor to review Cristian Romero's hair pull on Cucurella during the 2-2 draw against Tottenham in August 2022.
Dean said: "No referee wants to be driving home from a game knowing they should have made a different call. Sometimes in hindsight, you realise you could have acted differently. For the second goal by Harry Kane, I asked referee Anthony Taylor to wait while I looked at the incident involving Tottenham's Cristian Romero and Chelsea's Marc Cucurella.
"I could not award a free-kick as the VAR, but I could recommend to Taylor that he visit the referee review area to consider a possible red card. In the few seconds I had to study Romero pulling Cucurella's hair, I didn't deem it a violent act. I've since studied the footage, spoken to other referees and, upon reflection, I should have asked Taylor to visit his pitch-side monitor to take a look for himself. The referee on-field always has the final say.
"It goes to show you that no matter how experienced you are, and I've spent more than two decades as a Premier League official, you are always learning. It's disappointing for me as this was one incident in an otherwise very good weekend from our officials."
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Premier League