Fabregas lucky to escape referee rant, says Moyes

Arsenal fight back to beat Everton 2-1 after captain's tunnel confrontation with officials

Fabregas was incensed by Everton's controversial goal (GETTY IMAGES)

The Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas was accused of abusing officials in the tunnel at half-time during his team's dramatic 2-1 victory over Everton at the Emirates Stadium last night.

The Everton manager David Moyes claimed Fabregas, who was reported to have had an ill-tempered dispute with several Huddersfield players after Sunday's FA Cup tie, should have been sent off for the outburst, which came after referee Lee Mason had controversially allowed Everton's opening goal to stand despite Louis Saha being clearly offside.

Moyes said: "If he'd said it on the pitch, he would have been off like that. I think it changed the flow of the game." Arsenal, who came from behind to win with goals from Andrei Arshavin and Laurent Koscielny, denied Moyes' claims.

Arsenal remain five points behind Premier League leaders Manchester United, who beat Aston Villa 3-1 to take their unbeaten run to 29 league games, equalling their club record. Wayne Rooney scored twice. Chelsea – who left out new £50m signing Fernando Torres – won 4-2 at Sunderland to remain 10 points behind United.

Arsène Wenger accused Chelsea of hypocrisy over Monday's extraordinary spending spree. "Chelsea supported the financial fair play, but in the morning they announce a £70m loss and in the afternoon buy £75m worth of players. Where's the logic in that? It's hard to guess," Wenger said.

Results

Arsenal 2 Everton 1

Man Utd 3 Aston Villa 1

Sunderland 2 Chelsea 4

West Brom 2 Wigan 2