Alvaro Arbeloa accuses officials of not wanting Manchester United to lose after late controversy in draw at Fulham

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.

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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.

"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."

Is it a foul? Young and Saha analyse the decision

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."

Should Man Utd have been given penalty for Bassey handball?

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."

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Alvaro Arbeloa accuses officials of not wanting Manchester United to lose after late controversy in draw at Fulham