Wenger rages at referee after defeat

Arsenal suffer setback after upset at Fulham.

LONDON:

Arsene Wenger blamed referee Lee Probert following Arsenal’s dramatic 2-1 defeat at Fulham and claimed his team have been unfairly denied penalties in four of their last five Premier League games.

The Arsenal manager believed his side should have been awarded spot-kicks against Manchester City, Aston Villa, QPR, and against Fulham when Gervinho appeared to be caught by defender Philippe Senderos.

“The referee completely influenced the game the wrong way,” said Wenger. “We had a good first half. In the second half, we were tired and in the last 10 minutes we lost the game because we were down to 10 men.”

Arsenal could have secured the points if Probert had awarded a penalty for Senderos’s trip on Gervinho in the 13th minute. Defender Johan Djourou’s then got a first booking for a slide on Mousa Dembele, and his second, which led to an automatic dismissal, came when he fouled Bobby Zamora.

“When Djourou got the first yellow, the Fulham players went after him so that he could get the second yellow and he had done nothing at all.”

Arsenal had taken the lead through Laurent Koscielny but Fulham came back courtesy goals from Steve Sidwell and Zamora.

We’re back in it: Chelsea

Elsewhere, Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas claimed his team are back in title race following their last-gasp 2-1 victory over Wolves.

Frank Lampard’s dramatic 89th-minute goal eased the pressure on the embattled Chelsea manager.

“If we go on a winning streak of five or six games, which we’re capable of, we can still be fighting for this league,” said Villas-Boas.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2012.