Arsenal and Manchester United slip up in the ice

Only two Premier League games survived the icy weather at the weekend. But Manchester United and Arsenal will wish that their games had been postponed as well as they both slipped up - drawing with Everton and Birmingham respectively.

There was still plenty of room for controversy despite the lack of matches. Alex Ferguson blasted both the referee and a hapless ESPN reporter after watching his misfiring side survive a thorough workout at Birmingham.

Ferguson described the sending off of Darren Ferguson as "absolutely ridiculous". He then appeared to accuse the referee of picking on United's players by bringing up another game he refereed in October.

"I've not seen a softer sending-off in a long time," Ferguson said. "It was absolutely ridiculous. I watched Mark Clattenburg when he was in charge of the Arsenal v Tottenham game. In that match you had to have somebody hit by an axe before there was a booking."

Ferguson already has a suspended two-match touchline ban that he will have to serve if he is charged by the FA - but although the FA is investigating Ferguson is expected to escape censure.

The United boss also admonished ESPN's pitchside reporter when she suggested that Wayne Rooney was isolated during the first half. "Jesus Christ," responded Ferguson. "Were you watching the match?"

Arsenal also failed to take maximum points and needed an injury time equaliser from Tomas Rosicky to salvage a draw against Everton.

So the big winners of the weekend were Chelsea, even though they did not play a game. They are now a point ahead of United, with a game in hand, and three points ahead of Arsenal.

Before the weekend Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who already faces a fixture pile-up thanks to the postponement of Arsenal's midweek game against Bolton, blamed Britain's health and safety conscious society for the number of games being called off.

Many pitches were playable at the weekend, but the games did not go ahead because of concerns over the safety of fans.

"Nobody accepts risk any more - everybody is always guided by fear," said Wenger. "If one of 60,000 people has an accident, you feel very guilty and nobody accepts any more that the slightest insecurity could exist in society.

"That's why games are postponed when there is no real need. We have gone from individual initiative to collective responsibility." ·