MANCHESTER UNITED equaled a Premier League record following Bruno Fernandes’ controversial penalty against Aston Villa.
The Portuguese midfielder swept home a first-half spot-kick after he was deemed to have been brought down by Ezri Konsa.
The penalty was United’s 13th of the season – a Prem equalling record for spot-kicks awarded in a single campaign.
The Red Devils have now drawn level with the Crystal Palace team in 2004/05 and Leicester City’s title-winning side in 2015/16.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men still have four matches remaining this season to break the record should they be awarded another penalty.
Yet controversy reigned around their latest spot-kick after replays appeared to show Fernandes was the one who committed the foul.
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The 25-year-old then punished with relegation-threatened hosts by scoring from 12 yards at Villa Park, as United ran out 3-0 winners.
The Premier League later confirmed that referee Jon Moss was wrong to award the penalty and that VAR Graham Scott should have overruled the decision.
The decision compounded Villa’s relegation fears and boss Dean Smith blasted the officials after the match.
He said: “It all turned around on the penalty decision.
“I can understand Jon Moss getting it wrong but that goes to VAR, I don’t know what they are looking at. It’s a disgraceful decision. I can’t really tell you what I think about it as I’ll get fined. It’s a poor decision. They’ve got a screen they can go to and look at but they don’t seem to be bothered now.
“Anybody who has been in football knows Fernandes is trying to do a drag back. His first foot is on the ball and his second is on Konsa’s shin.
“I thought he was going to give a foul the other way.”
