Southampton must have been dreading the visit of Leicester City on Friday night.

While October 2019 might feel like an eternity ago, this week marked the first time since that historic 9-0 result that the Foxes made the trip to St. Mary's Stadium in the Premier League.

And lest we forget that this season saw Southampton gain the ignominy of possessing two of the league's three 9-0 defeats in its history when lightning struck twice against Manchester United.

Southampton vs Leicester City

Now, it's worth mentioning that both humiliations were ignited by Southampton going down to 10 men, so keeping every player on the pitch was going to be key to the Saints exorcising their demons.

Simple enough, right? Well, absolutely not, because fans were joking that Ralph Hasenhüttl's men could suffer yet another 9-0 drubbing when they received a red card within the first 10 minutes.

That alone is pretty astonishing, but the circumstances under which Southampton went a man down made the situation all the more noteworthy and many fans think that the hosts were hard done by.

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Vestergaard picks up rapid red card

That's because Jannik Vestergaard was sent packing for a tackle on Jamie Vardy where he appeared to win the ball brilliantly.

However, the Saints general did indeed follow through into Vardy's leg, duly bringing him to ground, while the defender's initial fumbled touch created a goal-scoring opportunity for Leicester.

In other words, Vestergaard was seemingly given his marching orders for denying Leicester a chance that could have seen them take the lead, but not everybody was happy with the decision.

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Many fans aren't happy

In fact, one of the leading posts saw a fan declare: "Football is dead. This is never a foul on Vardy. Never a red. The football powers are committed to outlawing tackling all together. Outrageous."

Strong words, I'm sure you'll agree, so be sure to cast your own opinion by checking out the tackle down below as well as some of the impassioned responses to the red card that greeted it.

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Name a better combination than the Premier League and controversy... we'll wait.

Was it the right decision?

Sadly, at the end of the day, you're on a hiding to nothing making contact with a striker running clear through on goal regardless of whether you meant to fell them or not. Just ask David Luiz.

But when there's good reason to think Vestergaard was making a deliberate and considered attempt to make contact with the ball, was a red card really the correct course of action?

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Who knows these days, but Southampton are certainly right to feel hard done by. Then again, at least history isn't repeating itself in terms of Leicester scoring nine goals like it is with red cards...