PATRICK VIEIRA, an old foe of Manchester United now taking fire at them in his role as a Manchester City executive, has claimed the Premier League champions have been helped to the top of the table because of a culture of generous refereeing at Old Trafford.

Vieira was speaking in response to Fulham not being awarded an 89th-minute penalty in the 1-0 win for United on Monday that took Alex Ferguson’s team three-points clear of City with eight games to left to play.

“When United play at home they get some advantage that other teams don’t get,” Vieira said. “I think when you go to United, Madrid, Barcelona or 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. We need to win games so we have this advantage in the future.”

Ferguson will have the chance to reply when he holds his weekly press briefing today but Rio Ferdinand could not wait that long and posted his response, in his inimitable style, on Twitter: “Why is Vieira so concerned with Man Utd....2 comments in a week or so....c’mon maaaaaan let it go.”

That was a reference to Vieira’s claims last week that United had demonstrated “a little bit of weakness” bringing Paul Scholes out of retirement, leading to a counter-allegation from Ferguson that City had shown the greater “desperation” by recalling Carlos Tevez despite him “taking a five-month holiday in Argentina”.

Roberto Mancini had previously said Tevez was “finished” at the club, but Vieira said he was happy the player and manager had called a truce. “We’re glad Carlos is back. The quality of these kind of players will be really important at this stage of the season. The issue was between him and the club. The players were really pleased to see him back.”

Vieira’s antipathy towards United goes back to his Arsenal days when his conflicts with Roy Keane became synonymous with the rivalry between the two clubs. These days he works as City’s football development executive but has clearly still not lost the ability to wind up the opposition. City, he said, had been “the best team and played the best football”.

He conceded that United were in the best position – “When you are first you have the advantage, they are favourites” – but the sides meet at the Etihad Stadium on April 30th for a potential title decider and Vieira believes there may be one last twist. “This is our moment. I believe the club deserves it.”

His comments are bound to go down badly at Old Trafford.