Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti was annoyed at Manchester United's protests over referee Martin Atkinson's decisions during last night's game which Chelsea won 1:0. In a stormy second half there were a number of confrontations between the referee and players from both sides.

"The Manchester players protested a lot," said Ancelotti. "I don't know why. I don't like this. At the end of a very difficult match, all the players worked very hard - and sometimes it can happen."

Atkinson awarded a free kick for Darren Fletcher's challenge on Ashley Cole, and Wes Brown appeared to be impeded as Frank Lampard's delivery was turned into the net by a combination of John Terry and Nicolas Anelka.

“Clearly, Darren Fletcher has won the ball - Ashley Cole was never touched and has jumped up in the air - and then (Didier) Drogba's pulled Brown to the ground for the goal," said Sir Alex Ferguson. 

"The referee's position to make the decision was absolutely ridiculous - he can't see anything. He's got a Chelsea player (Joe Cole) standing right in front of him - and he doesn't even move”.

"It was a bad decision, but there's nothing we can do about it. You lose faith in refereeing sometimes, that's the way the players are talking in there - it was a bad one”.

Ancelotti admitted Drogba might have been offside for Chelsea's winner but said: "It was very difficult for the linesman to see. There was a lot of concentration of players in the box".