Arsene Wenger frustrated by refereeing decisions during Arsenal's defeat to Manchester United

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger expressed his frustration at the way in which referee Mike Dean handled Arsenal's 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford today.

Dean turned down Arsenal claims for a penalty when Andrey Arshavin appeared to be brought down by Darren Fletcher in the first half - but awarded one after the break when Almunia caught Rooney.

Wenger was eventually 'sent-off' in injury time following the ruling out of a Robin van Persie 'goal' for offside.

Asked why he was sent to the stands, the Frenchman said: "Because I kicked a bottle when the goal was cancelled from an offside position. I didn't know we were not allowed not to do that.

"We go home with no points and that is very frustrating. When you play like that to go home with no points is very difficult to accept.

"You know what you get at Old Trafford when you come - every time - but I don't want to go into the performance of the ref. If you have any questions you shouldn't ask them to me."

When it was pointed out that Emmanuel Eboue was booked for diving today, the day after Eduardo was charged with deceiving a referee by UEFA for his performance in the Champions League play-off defeat of Celtic, Wenger added: "I believe you should look at the game and who played wih real spirit on the pitch today. I felt we played with the right spirit

"It's difficult to judge every time someone goes down. Today I've seen a player make 20 fouls and there was no yellow card. Nobody sees it."

Asked to elaborate on the identity of the player, Wenger added: "If you've seen the game you don't need me (to tell you). How this player got away without a yellow card is quite amazing."

"But I'm very positive because we showed great quality. Our performance is very encouraging for the future and there are more positives than negatives from today's game."