St Mary's still without a win

Southampton's Chris Marsden was furious after being shown the red card in the Saints defeat against Arsenal. His side were already losing, but the decision by referee Graham Barber left the Saints without a hope of registering their first home win of the season.

Marsden's complaint surrounds Patrick Vieira, and the eternal conundrum of whether the Gunners midfielder is more sinned against than sinning. Emerging from the players' tunnel after leading Arsenal to victory at a canter at St Mary's, the France international displayed the engaging side of his personality.

He spoke about his new sense of responsibility, about playing fair and consigning red cards to the past. It was hard not to be impressed.

Ten minutes later, a different picture emerged. Chris Marsden accused the Arsenal captain of a tackle so crude that the Southampton midfielder ended up being sent off for seeking revenge.

Marsden ultimately pulled out of a two-footed lunge on Vieira, a fact missed by Graham Barber, who also failed to see Vieira's studs leaving an unwanted mark down Marsden's calf minutes earlier.

Marsden said: 'Two minutes before my second booking, he caught me down the back of my leg. I was fired up when I went into the next challenge but I felt I pulled out at the last minute. I was trying to protect myself because I thought he was going to catch me again.'

While Marsden walked towards the dressing-room, Vieira stayed behind to begin orchestrating a win so comprehensive that Southampton manager Stuart Gray called it 'a 2-0 drubbing'.