Furious Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag accused the Premier League of going back on their pledge to allow greater physical contact this season as midfielder Casemiro was sent off for the second time in little over a month.

The 31-year-old Brazilian now faces a four-match ban after referee Anthony Taylor was sent to the monitor by VAR and deemed his challenge on Southampton’s Carlos Alcaraz to be dangerous.

Casemiro was in tears and had to be consoled by team-mates following his 34th-minute dismissal which left United battling it out for a goalless draw with 10 men.

Ten Hag defended his player afterwards and said the club ‘will see’ whether to appeal the red card though Casemiro caught his opponent on the shin as he won the ball with a sliding right boot.

‘The referees came into the season with a policy, that we are the Premier League, we want intensity and we want to go strong,’ he said.

‘Casemiro has played 500 games in Europe and never had a (straight) red card, and now he has two. He plays tough but fair.

‘Of course, it looks bad when you freeze the frame but everyone who knows something about football know what is bad and what is fair. I tell you Casemiro is a very fair player.’

Casemiro was sent off twice in a decade at Real Madrid (for two yellow cards) before joining United last summer. He was automatically red-carded against Crystal Palace on February 4 and again on Sunday, which will take his total of games missed through suspension to eight.

‘He didn’t say a lot in the dressing-room. He is disappointed,’ said Ten Hag soberly.

Ten Hag, whose United team remain third despite being held by the bottom team, was also raging at his side being denied a number of penalty claims, most controversially when the ball hit Armel Bella-Kotchap’s outstretched arm.