A Bruno Fernandes incident against Sunderland caused former Premier League referee Mike Dean to unleash a brutal rant

Mike Dean has delivered a bizarre outburst about referees following a contentious Bruno Fernandes red card incident. The Manchester United skipper appeared to receive an elbow to the face from Nilson Angulo during his team's stalemate with Sunderland, with Dean offering a peculiar explanation as to why it might have been overlooked.

Paul Merson, who was covering the match for Sky Sports, said: "Fernandes gets the ball, he's got his head up and goes to play it. Angulo, who's come on, is running back and as he's running back he just gives him a little elbow in the face. It's not major contact, but he's meant to do it. I think this could be a red card."

As the refereeing specialist on the panel, Dean interjected: "There's not a lot of force in it, but I don't understand why the player would run back and put his arm in and just put himself at risk."

"I'm not sure what's happening - they've obviously had a look at it; they're not doing anything, they've just had a chat with Fernandes and check complete. You run the risk with VAR, that could have gone either way."

Merson then remarked: "They didn't even book him, Mike."

Dean strangely responded: "Well, it's May isn't it?"

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Lead presenter Simon Thomas questioned: "What? It might be May for you but the referee's still got a job to do, hasn't he?"

Dean went on to elaborate: "I'm just annoyed about decisions in games where they're just not making decisions. Fulham's a prime example today. Just a poor performance on the pitch.

"They're just not making decisions on the pitch. Joking apart, May or not - that's an easy decision to make. We've had a penalty shout five minutes before with Man United, that could have gone either way, a challenge in another game, they're just not making decisions and I don't know why that is."

Thomas then pushed further, asking: "Is that something they're going to have to address this summer?"

Dean responded: "They're going to have to, because it's just not good enough. We were talking earlier off-air about it, it's easier to go red, make a big and brave decision and go red card, and everybody's happy if they [the decisions] stay on-field because it's a good decision. I think they're just scared of going red, they're just petrified."

While United played out a 0-0 draw, both Fulham and Bournemouth had players dismissed for straight red card offences following VAR reviews. The Cherries went on to claim victory in their match, placing themselves in a strong position to secure Champions League football.

Michael Carrick's side have already guaranteed a top-five finish. Injuries to Benjamin Sesko and Casemiro, which ruled them out of the match at the Stadium of Light, are not a major cause for concern.

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