Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks on after Chelsea's goalless draw with Manchester United in the Premier League
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United had a penalty shout turned down in the first half (Picture: Getty)

Manchester United head coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer accused Chelsea of ‘putting pressure’ on referees with ‘cheeky’ tactics after his side were denied a spot-kick in their goalless draw at Stamford Bridge.

The Red Devils lost further ground on runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City as Sunday’s showpiece ended in a stalemate, with an unsuccessful first-half penalty shout for a handball against Callum Hudson-Odoi the major talking point of the game.

Referee Stuart Attwell dismissed United’s appeals after being prompted to consult with his pitchside monitor by VAR and the two managers were seen warring over the decision on the touchline.

Extract taken from Chelsea's official website before the game

‘The Man United skipper’s actions will also be under scrutiny again on Sunday after his penalty area tangle with Jamal Lascelles last weekend. In recent Chelsea meetings the Red Devils’ centre-back has survived VAR reviews of a potential penalty foul on Cesar Azpilicueta and violent challenge on Michy Batshuayi that may well have affected the outcome.’

Chelsea had fanned the flames on their official website in the lead-up to the match by suggesting Harry Maguire would be ‘under scrutiny’ after going unpunished for a tangle with Newcastle’s Jamal Lascelles last weekend.

The article in question also made reference to a pair of contentious decisions involving the defender in United’s recent meetings with Chelsea which clearly upset Solskjaer, who vented about ‘outside influences’ in an fiery post-match interview with Sky Sports’ Geoff Shreeves.

‘It’s all these outside influences, even the VAR talk before the game here on Harry,’the Norwegian said when asked about the handball shout in the first half.

‘That’s cheeky. That’s cheeky when they put that on their website, that’s influencing referees.

‘You can go back and look at their website. You can read what they are saying about all the controversy around Harry Maguire and putting pressure on the referees to give penalties against us.

Tuchel and Solskjaer were involved in a heated altercation over the penalty shout (Picture: Sky Sports)
Tuchel and Solskjaer were involved in a heated altercation over the penalty shout (Picture: Sky Sports)

Asked how serious a problem this was for teams facing Chelsea, Solskjaer replied: ‘Well we’ve seen there was a manager. Was it Frank that started it?

‘There’s loads of talk about us getting penalties when there is no doubt whatsoever and now of course today we should have had a penalty.

‘That’s as clear as it is.’

Solskjaer continued to vent in a later interview with BBC MOTD and insisted the penalty call was ‘100 per cent nailed on’ and should have been awarded.

‘It was a penalty, 100 per cent nailed on. If that’s a natural position for a hand to be in when the ball comes in then I must be blind,’ he went on.

‘We wanted to win. Apart from the last quality or pass being not good enough… we had great pressing, desire, work-rate… there was a great save by David de Gea and we got the clean sheet.

‘That’s what let us down, that quality on the ball. The first half was scrappy. Poor game really. But then we played some good stuff at times. When we settled we created a few chances but we didn’t have enough.

‘It was a good block by Luke Shaw. That’s what you do when there is a goal to be saved, you put your body on the line. I thought we were excellent defensively.’

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