Sunderland defender targeted Hleb, blasts Toure

Arsenal's thrilling 3-2 victory at the Emirates Stadium yesterday, capped by Robin van Persie's late winner, was marred by McShane's wild lunge on the Belarussian in the last minute.

Seeing red: referee Rob Styles dismisses Paul McShane at the Emirates

The 21-year-old Irishman connected with Hleb's groin area with his foot and the momentum generated by the challenge caused his knee to crash into the Arsenal winger's head.

McShane was shown the red card by referee Rob Styles and Toure said: "When I saw that on the replay, I thought the intention was bad. I think sometimes it is better to show the red when somebody makes an intentional foul.

"The referee did well to send him off. The damage could have been a lot worse."

Hleb was on the receiving end of a nasty tackle from West Ham's Mark Noble last week and Toure continued: "I spoke to Alex afterwards in the dressing room and I said, 'They want to kill you.'

"He is such a great player. Teams want to stop him. But he is okay. He was having a massage afterwards and seemed alright."

However, Sunderland's players claimed McShane was the victim of an injustice.

Kenwyne Jones, scorer of the visitors' second goal, said: "It wasn't intentional. Paul McShane is not one to come in and do something like that.

"I think it probably was a bit harsh because the player was already on the floor before he even came into him. What can you do? We could appeal but it's already happened."

Jones added: "They are a good team but a lot of things when you go to the big teams go their way.

"I'm not going to comment any further on that - I may get into trouble. The decision-making was inconsistent. We had a few decisions that went against us.

"Cards were dealt out to us but when it was the other way around, they just had a slap on the wrist. But that's what happens when you come to these kind of matches. It is hard to take that but it happens."