Man United vs Tottenham ref watch: Michael Oliver gets multiple penalty shouts wrong
Man United cruised to a simple victory on Saturday as they beat 10-player Tottenham 2-0 at Old Trafford.
After an even start to the first half, Cristian Romero was given his marching orders for a reckless challenge on Casemiro.
Man United, who are on fine form under Michael Carrick, quickly took advantage of this, and Bryan Mbeumo netted the opener from a well-worked corner routine.
After a dominant second period, Bruno Fernandes finally finished the game off as he poked the ball home to give the hosts a 2-0 lead with around 10 minutes to go.
However, Michael Oliver, who has made plenty of controversial decisions this season in the Premier League, once again made some strange decisions.
Tottenham denied early penalty claim
Tottenham had a positive start at Old Trafford, and could have had a penalty early on.
Dominic Solanke, who has been great for Spurs in recent weeks, was pulled to the ground by Lisandro Martinez.
The Man United star made no attempt to play the ball as the Tottenham man went down inside the six-yard box.
Yet, Oliver and VAR were simply not interested, despite the challenge being completely illegal on the field.
Therefore, plenty of Tottenham fans were bemused that the decision wasn’t at least checked despite it being an obvious foul.
Joao Palhinha harshly booked by Michael Oliver vs Man United
While Romero’s red card wasn’t really up for debate, Joao Palhinha second half yellow card was contentious.
The Tottenham midfielder went in for a sliding challenge on Kobbie Mainoo, and won the ball.
Old Trafford enjoyed that one 😍 pic.twitter.com/9alp0qAX6R
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) February 7, 2026
Yet, Oliver still deemed the challenge to be a foul and gave the Portugal international a yellow card for his troubles.
While the midfielder did go in with both feet when going in, it was never yellow card worthy when he clearly won the ball.
Man United penalty claim ignored for challenge on Harry Maguire
Down the other end of the pitch, Man United could have also had a penalty in the second half.
Around the hour mark, the Red Devils were in the ascendancy and were heavily pushing for a second goal.
Then, after winning a corner, the hosts were denied a penalty for a clear illegal challenge on Harry Maguire by Micky van de Ven.
The Tottenham defender had his arm around the Man United star as they both went for the ball from the corner.
As a result, Maguire went to ground inside the box, but did not win a penalty for the challenge.