Referee Paul Durkin will not reconsider his decision to send off Sol Campbell on Saturday - adding that he had no alternative but to red-card the Arsenal defender.

Campbell was banished after tangling with Southampton's Agustin Delgado in the penalty area.

Campbell was viewed as unlucky to have been sent off but Durkin insisted that he had to go because he was the last man.

In another blow for the defending Premiership champions, Durkin also confirmed that he had reported Campbell's team-mate Ashley Cole for an outburst after the game.

"The fact that (Campbell) was the last defender meant I had to apply the law, which was that in my opinion he denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

"I had no alternative," Durkin was reported as saying in Tuesday's Daily Mail newspaper.

The official added that Cole had been "insulting and offensive" to him after Arsenal's 3-2 defeat at St Mary's Stadium.

That means the Arsenal left-back will face an FA charge and could receive a suspension - while his England colleague Campbell knows he will miss the Premiership clash with Manchester United on 7 December.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was furious with the referee after Saturday's game but refused to talk himself into trouble.

Wenger said: "Durkin is Durkin. What can we do about him?"