Wanyama escapes further punishment from Southampton for 3rd red card

Southampton has not dealt further punishment to Victor Wanyama after the midfielder received his third red card of the season against West Ham United last weekend.

The full-bloodied challenge on Dimitri Payet means a five-match ban for the Kenyan, due to an additional four matches being added to the suspension because it's his third dismissal.

Despite Wanyama escaping disciplinary from action from Southampton this time around, manager Ronald Koeman is certainly conscious of his worsening record.

"We did (discipline him) after the second yellow card (in the 1-0 defeat to Norwich City in January) but we did not this time. I think Victor was a little bit unlucky," Koeman said.

"In my opinion, that red card was totally different to the second yellow, for example, against Norwich. In my opinion, that was more of a stupid foul.

"Now he was unlucky because his intention really was to play the ball. He missed the ball and the referee took a hard decision."

Wanyama's third sending off sees him equal a host of players with the most dismissals in one Premier League campaign. In his previous two seasons in the English top flight, Wanyama had not received his marching orders, and sits some way short of the joint career-long record of eight held by Richard Dunne, Patrick Vieira, and Duncan Ferguson.

Koeman is supportive of his player in this incident though, citing Mathieu Flamini's tackle on Dan Gosling the following day as a worse challenge, but regardless of whether it was wrong or right, Koeman believes Wanyama needs to use this as evidence to why he shouldn't always go to ground when performing a tackle.

"His intention is to play the ball but it was his third one and he has to learn. If you don't learn from this, then you never learn and he has to learn that sometimes you cannot take that risk," Koeman said.

"We always tell defenders, 'Stay on your feet, do not make that tackle' and he is strong enough to use his body to win the battle."

In Wanyama's stead, duties in the middle will be shared between Oriol Romeu, Jordy Clasie, James Ward-Prowse, and Steven Davis, who returns for Saturday's trip to Swansea City after a hamstring issue.