Fulham 1-1 Man United: Referees ‘would not let Red Devils lose’ amid Premier League injustice

By Oliver Thomas | 21 Sep 2026 08:30, Last updated: 21 Sep 2026 08:31

Fulham head coach Alvaro Arbeloa has accused the referees of not wanting Manchester United to lose in Sunday’s 1-1 Premier League draw at Craven Cottage because of the injustice Michael Carrick's side faced in the Manchester derby.

The Red Devils were poor for large spells of a tight contest in West London, but they managed to salvage a point when Matheus Cunha fired home a deflected 89th-minute equaliser to cancel out Lisandro Martinez’s second-half own goal.

Arbeloa vented his frustration around 35 seconds before Man United’s equaliser when the visitors were given a free kick on the halfway line for a foul by Cesar Palacios on Harry Maguire.

The Fulham boss felt that the decision was soft, and claimed that Peter Banks and his officiating team gave "all fouls" to the Red Devils because of the "error in judgement" made by VAR to incorrectly award Erling Haaland's winning goal at Old Trafford last weekend.

Speaking to Sky Sports in his post-match interview, Arbeloa said: "All fouls for them. 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."

Navigating the press conference in his self-admitted "not so good" English, Arbeloa backtracked slightly but still managed to communicate his overall frustration.

The Spaniard said: "My English is not so good. 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."

The draw for Fulham leaves them in 19th place in the Premier League table as one of three top-flight teams without a win from the first five matches of the new season.

Fulham are next in action after the international break on October 10 when they travel to Ipswich Town, before face two more newly-promoted teams in Hull City and Coventry City in the following two weeks.

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