Alvaro Arbeloa criticises refereeing after Fulham draw with Manchester United

Alvaro Arbeloa accused referees in the Premier League of protecting Manchester United after Fulham were denied victory by a late equaliser at Craven Cottage.

The Fulham manager questioned why a foul involving Harry Maguire was not given around 35 seconds before Manchester United scored, arguing that the decision had a direct impact on a match in which his side came close to securing their first win of the competition.

Arbeloa, a friend and former pupil of Jose Mourinho, made the comments during his post-match news conference. The Daily Mail reported that his criticism could lead to disciplinary action from the Football Association.

“We were very close, but bad luck got in our way again,” said Arbeloa. “We knew it would be a difficult game against a big team, but we saw what the referee did during the match.”

The Spanish manager then directly referred to the incident involving Maguire.

“Everything was in their favour. Just look at the Harry Maguire situation. Almost every decision went for Manchester United. After the Manchester City game, I realised they do not like Manchester United to lose.”

Despite his frustration at the result, Arbeloa praised his players for their performance and said they had deserved more from the contest.

“We were very close to getting our first win, so we are a little disappointed, but I think we played a good game,” he said.

“It was not an easy match for us, especially because we were bottom of the table, but we showed strong character when we had possession and we were brave.

“We had to defend during some periods, but overall we played a good game.”

Fulham’s difficult start under Arbeloa means they are still waiting for their first Premier League victory. They have taken only two points from their opening 5 matches and remain in the relegation zone.

Arbeloa said the club must now focus on ending that run, while pointing to the challenging nature of Fulham’s early schedule.

“We now have to get our first win,” he said. “If you look at our first five matches, we have played Manchester United and Chelsea, and we also played Liverpool at Anfield and Sunderland away.”