Wolves are gearing up for a huge game this weekend against Southampton – and the last visit to St. Mary’s Stadium was certainly eventful.
Vitor Pereira is looking to increase the gap down to the relegation zone to more than six points.
Wolves got a respectable point against Everton last time out, but this Saturday presents a very good opportunity to get three points on the board.
Southampton are rock-bottom of the Premier League table and have accrued just nine points from their 28 games so far.
It has been a disastrous season for the Saints, who are all but relegated already.
But Wolves can take nothing for granted, and have to show Southampton respect at St. Mary’s Stadium.
Showing respect at St. Mary’s was apparently something Mario Lemina didn’t do on Wolves’ last visit to Southampton’s ground, with his red card that day remaining an absolutely baffling moment.
The bizarre reason Mario Lemina got sent off on Wolves’ last visit to Southampton
The last time Wolves played at St. Mary’s Stadium was in the 2022/23 season.
The two teams met in February 2023 and – just like this weekend – it was a big game, with Julen Lopetegui looking to steer Wolves away from the relegation zone.
Wolves ended up winning the game 2-1 thanks to an own goal from Jan Bednarek and one from Joao Gomes late on. Carlos Alcaraz had given Southampton the lead.
So Wolves showed good character to come from behind, but their task of doing so was actually made very difficult went Jarred Gillett sent Mario Lemina off for a truly bizarre reason.
Lemina had already picked up a yellow card in the game for a foul on Alcaraz.
But then, on 27 minutes, Lemina was shown a second yellow card out of nowhere by Gillett.
A few Wolves players had gone over to Gillett to remonstrate after a decision, with Lemina the last player to come over.
Quick as a flash, Gillett turned around and brandished a yellow card to the absolute shock of the Wolves players, fans and people watching at home.
Lemina was sent off for ‘running aggressively’ towards Gillett, which was something many people took issue with at the time.
Ruben Neves shared the reason Jarred Gillett sent off Lemina
It was a truly baffling moment in the game, and after the contest, Ruben Neves shared what Gillett had told him about the sending off.
He said: “You really want to know what he told me? So he told me there were two players running to him and because Mario was the third one he gave him a yellow card.
“So now we go and check the rules, if there is any.”
There had been very little about people getting booked due to being a ‘third’ player to come over to a referee.
Ruben Dias was booked for Manchester City the day after for doing it, but then there were hardly any other instances of it happening again, despite players often crowding referees in groups of more than three.
Wolves fans waited for instances of this happening again. But referees would then let players go unpunished time and time again, which left an extremely bitter taste.