Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett believes Martin Atkinson should not have needed VAR to send James Ward-Prowse off against Chelsea.
The Blues raced to a 1-0 lead in the match at Stamford Bridge with Trevoh Chalobah scoring early on, but Ward-Prowse equalised from the penalty spot in the second-half.
However, the Southampton midfielder was shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on Jorginho after Atkinson initially showed the Chelsea star a yellow.
Atkinson, though, went to the Video Assistant Referee and then overturned his initial decision and sent Ward-Prowse off, while the Blues went on to score twice late on to secure maximum points.
Hackett believes that Atkinson should not have required VAR and should have sent him off straight away.
"Meanwhile, Martin Atkinson, who has been a top-class referee for several years, appears to me to be struggling with his form and confidence," Hackett said in his Caught Offside column.
"In the 75th minute of the Chelsea vs Southampton game, Atkinson raised a yellow card for a challenge by Ward-Prowse but was advised by VAR to take a look at the monitor.
"He did, yellow turned to red and Ward-Prowse was correctly dismissed. It was a challenge that Atkinson shouldn’t have required VAR intervention for."
The scorer of Chelsea's second goal, Timo Werner, said after the game that the red card for Southampton changed the match for the Blues, so they could eventually take all three points away with them.
"We were a bit lucky they conceded the red card. It opened up a lot of space for us," Werner told Chelsea's official website. "They made it very hard to create chances, but overall we were the better team."
