West Ham's £25m man Marko Arnautovic says sorry after being sent off in disgrace
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ByEurosport
Updated 19/08/2017 at 17:23 GMT
West Ham's poor start to the season was not helped by record signing Marko Arnautovic, who was sent off for a clear elbow on Jack Stephens in the first half of their 3-2 defeat at Southampton.
Marko Arnautovic of West Ham United is shown a red card by referee Lee Mason during the Premier League match between Southampton and West Ham United at St Mary's Stadium.
Image credit: Eurosport
The ball had been cleared when the Austrian striker elbowed Southampton defender Stephens in the face in the 33rd minute leaving referee Lee Mason with no choice but to produce the red card.
The former Stoke forward disputed the decision, and had to be told to leave the pitch by West Ham manager Slaven Bilic, who revealed afterwards Arnautovic had apologised to his team mates.
The Austrian player used his Instagram account to apologise to West Ham fans.
“I want to apologise to all the West Ham fans," he said. "I just want to let u know I didn’t want to let my team down and u fan. So please sorry COYI’s a big apology to you all."
Manolo Gabbiadini had given Saints the lead on 11 minutes with Dusan Tadic doubling the advantage with a penalty on 38 minutes.
Javier Hernandez netted for the 10 men just before half-time before equalising on 74 minutes, but a foul by Pablo Zabaleta on Maya Yoshida in added time allowed Charlie Austin to slot the winning goal from the penalty spot.
Arnautovic automatically misses next week's match with Newcastle, but faces an FA ban for his moment of stupidity and could be fined by West Ham, who slumped to defeat against a home side who had failed to score in their previous six home matches.
West Ham have lost their first two league matches of the season following their 4-0 drubbing by Manchester United last Sunday.
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