Patrick Vieira claims United have an unfair advantage in the title race

Former Arsenal and Manchester City midfielder Patrick Vieira has claimed that Manchester United are given an unfair advantage at Old Trafford because referees are quite often intimidated by the Red Devils’ supporters.

Vieira, who is currently a Football Development Executive for City, also added that Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and AC Milan seem to get the benefit of most referees’ decisions.

“When United play at home they get some advantage that other teams don’t get,” Vieira told BBC Sport.

“I think when you go to United, [Real] Madrid, Barcelona, or [AC] Milan, when the referees referee these kind of games, it’s always difficult to go against these kind of teams. This is the way it is.

“It’s something the teams who are used to winning get all the time, so we need to win games so we have this advantage in the future.

“This is our moment. Since the start of the season we’ve been the best team and played the best football. I believe the club deserves it.”

Although United got the benefit of the doubt against Fulham on Monday night, the decision was a very close one.

At first glance, it seemed as if Danny Murphy has gone down prematurely. However, the slow motion replay revealed that Carrick indeed made contact with Murphy’s left leg.

Thus, you can’t place all the blame on the referee for not getting it right. After all, it was a very close call.

Furthermore, United did not get the benefit of the doubt when a penalty was awarded to Newcastle United earlier this season after Rio Ferdinand make a picturesque challenge on Hatem Ben Arfa, leading to the Red Devils dropping two points at home against the Magpies.

In other words, no club always gets the benefit of the doubt.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Fulham’s penalty decisions, one thing is absolutely certain, Patrick Vieira knows how to address the media.

Earlier this month, the former France international called Manchester United “desperate” for bringing Paul Scholes out of retirement.

Since Scholes’ reintroduction into the side, the Red Devils have been on cracking form. Coincidence? Surely not.

Meanwhile, Sir Alex Ferguson hit back at Vieira and Manchester City, claiming that he has plenty of “ammunition” to play mind games with Untied’s noisy neighbors.

The Scottish boss then, quite cheekily, brought up the Carlos Tevez saga. Ferguson’s got a way with words, there’s no doubt about that.

All this drama sets up a fantastic derby match on April 30, when United will travel to the Etihad Stadium to take on City.