Arbeloa: Officials wouldn't let Man Utd lose

Man Utd rescued a late 1-1 draw at Fulham after Matheus Cunha's deflected equaliser; Alvaro Arbeloa felt Harry Maguire winning a free-kick 35 seconds before the equaliser for a 'foul' by Cesar Palacios was soft; Arbeloa felt the refs were kinder to United after the Manchester derby drama

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>Alvaro Arbeloa has accused the referees of not wanting Manchester United to lose against Fulham because of the injustice Michael Carrick's side faced in the Manchester derby last weekend.

>United rescued a 1-1 draw after Matheus Cunha scored a deflected 89th-minute equaliser - but Fulham head coach Arbeloa was furious that, 35 seconds before the goal, United were given a free-kick for a foul on Harry Maguire on the halfway line.

>Arbeloa felt the free-kick for Cesar Palacios' foul on Maguire was soft and claimed referee Michael Oliver and his team of officials gave "all fouls" to United - because of the "error in judgement" by the officials who incorrectly awarded Erling Haaland's Manchester derby winner at Old Trafford last weekend.

>"All fouls for them," Arbeloa told Sky Sports. "You can see before they scored, the foul against Maguire, he's a guy who is 100 kilos. Every decision was for them.

>"And I knew. I knew after the game against Man City that they [would not] let Manchester United lose here. We deserved a little bit more.

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>"We were so close. So, so close. We were a little bit unlucky again. We knew it would be difficult against this big team.

>"Also we knew what happened last week. We have seen what the referees have been doing all the match so it was a difficult game. And we were unlucky."

>In his press conference, Arbeloa appeared to row back on his comments a little bit - but still said he "was not really happy".

>"My English is not so good," he said. "Maybe I explain myself so bad and I prefer not to say anything about the referees because you never know.

>"When you say something that you don't have to say, it's better to stay calm, focus on the performance of my team and focus on the next game.

>"I'm not really happy. Like I said, I need to be focused and put my energy in all the things that I have to improve.

>"[Maguire] is a very big guy and maybe it wasn't a foul. But it's ok. Like I said, I prefer to analyse the game - players, systems and it's the best for win.

>"You know when you draw a game like that, maybe you're a little bit frustrated."

>Analysing the Maguire foul on Super Sunday, former Manchester United defender Ashley Young told Sky Sports: "It's definitely a foul. Palacios isn't looking at the ball, he's straight into Maguire's back.

>"I know he [Arbeola] says Maguire is 100kg, but he's smart, he's waiting for the foul to be committed."

>Asked if it was a foul, former Fulham and Manchester United forward Louis Saha added: "It is.

>"It might be soft, but that's where some players have experience, they use their body in the right way. In his position, he [Maguire] felt like he couldn't take the control so it was a clever piece of work from Maguire."

>Another talking point came just before United's equaliser - when Fulham defender Calvin Bassey was accused of handball after Lisandro Martinez's ball forward into the penalty area.

>VAR looked at the decision but agreed with the assistant referee's view that Bassey had his arm close to his body - even though it struck his hand.

>"He did put his hand up," said Gary Neville on co-commentary. "The fact that the hand is close to the body might save him."

>Analysing the decision, Saha said: "Its kind of a 50:50, you don't know now with the rules. It hits his hand. The natural instinct you have is to protect your face because you know you're going to be hit.

>"It's different rules every weekend, we don't understand it. Some will blow, some will go on."

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