Southampton gaffer reignites favouritism debate

Southampton boss Jan Poortvliet was outraged that his extremely average side were not able to beat Manchester Utd yesterday, complaining that Matt Paterson’s dreadful lunge shouldn’t have been a red card (judge for yourselves above), United’s opener was offside and the penalty decision was incorrect.

While Poortvielt attempts to push the needle on the complain-o-meter past the “William Gallas” mark are admirable, he raised a point that we have heard many times before:

“Arsene Wenger says the 50-50 decisions always go with United - and I agree with him.”

Professor Wenger is no stranger to this viewpoint, and both Jose Mourinho (”It is not possible to have a penalty against Manchester United and it is not possible to have a penalty in favour of Chelsea”) and Avram Grant (”I do not think the world is against Chelsea, or English football. But in this case there were some coincidences for Manchester United.”) have made their opinions known in recent years.

So, is there a genuine bias towards the Premier League champions, or are jealous opponents simply trying to make excuses? Let us know your thoughts below…