Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson insists contentious refereeing decisions even themselves out over the course of a season.

Fulham were denied a late penalty in the 1-0 loss at Old Trafford as United moved three points clear of Manchester City at the Premier League summit.

“It evens itself out over a season and that will never change,” said Ferguson, whose club have won 19 league titles.

“You get breaks here and there. Every club gets good breaks, bad breaks.”

Fulham wanted a spot-kick in the 87th minute on Monday when Michael Carrick appeared to trip Danny Murphy in the box.

But referee Michael Oliver rejected their appeals, as he did when United felt Stephen Kelly handled Patrice Evra’s cross before half-time.

City executive Patrick Vieira said on Wednesday that he believed United and other big clubs “get some advantage” from officials at home, though his club later released a statement to say his views had been taken out of context.

“From the referee’s position, I can see why he didn’t give a penalty kick when Danny Murphy was brought down because the ball has moved to the angle as Michael Carrick has challenged him,” Ferguson argued.

“From that position it wasn’t clear. It was a good claim.

“We could have had a penalty but you don’t often get these ones when a wide player’s crossing the ball.

“He almost caught the ball between his arm and his body. We could have got a penalty but I wouldn’t have expected one for that, to be honest.”

Ferguson suggested Manchester City were fortunate not to concede a penalty when Gareth Barry challenged Stoke’s Glenn Whelan in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium

He also mentioned the controversial penalty Newcastle were awarded in their 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in November and an apparent stamp on Scott Parker by Mario Balotelli – who went on to score the winning goal – in Manchester City’s 3-2 victory over Tottenham in January.

“City could have had a penalty kick against them at Stoke as everyone saw,” Ferguson commented.

“We had a terrible decision this season at Old Trafford when Newcastle got a penalty kick. Tottenham could claim the same when Balotelli wasn’t sent off and then ended up scoring the winning goal.

“You could go through millions of things like that but I think maybe we’ve a point that the smaller clubs feel that way.

“Someone said some years ago United always get penalty kicks at Old Trafford but when you go back through the 25 years I’ve been here it’s only averaged about three a year, or something like that.

“It has some mileage in terms of press and things like that but most managers believe that the breaks even themselves out.”