Fergie's fury as Suarez refuses to shake Evra's hand

Alex Ferguson branded Luis Suarez of Liverpool “a disgrace” for refusing to shake the hand of Manchester United’s Patrice Evra as the two teams were introduced to each other moments before their Premier League encounter at Old Trafford. This despite the fact that it was Suarez who had racially abused Evra when the sides met at Anfield in October.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Ferguson after his side had won the bad-tempered clash 2-1. “Luis Suarez is a disgrace to Liverpool Football Club. He should never play for them again…

"We had a chat this morning and Patrice said: ‘I'm going to shake his hand, I have nothing to be ashamed of, I'm going to keep my dignity.’ And he [Suarez] refuses.

"The history that club has got … and he does that. It could have caused a riot. I was really disappointed in that guy.”

The United manager wasn’t being melodramatic in his post-match analysis: Suarez has done himself and his club a terrible disservice, as did Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish in trying to defend his striker.

“I never knew Suarez refused to shake Evra's hand. I wasn't there, I never saw it,” muttered Dalglish to a Sky Sports reporter, before his temper got the better of him and he stormed: “I think you're bang out of order to blame Luis Suarez for anything that happened here today.”

Not only did Suarez snub Evra but he later was allegedly involved in a tunnel scuffle as the two teams headed to their dressing rooms at half-time. Taking to Twitter to defend himself after the match, Suarez said: “We lost and we are sad because we have made a big effort... Disappointed because everything is not that it seems...”

While that statement might be ambiguous what was in doubt at Old Trafford was the score – a 2-1 victory for United that took them to the top of the Premier League table, one point ahead of Manchester City though the Sky Blues have the chance to regain the lead when they play Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.

Wayne Rooney was the United hero, the England striker scoring twice in the first five minutes of the second half. Suarez, unable to keep out of the headlines, got one back for Liverpool ten minutes from time but United deserved their victory how they celebrated at the final whistle.

Evra in particular showed his jubilation at the result in a manner which further enflamed Suarez and his Liverpool teammates, and also angered Ferguson. “Evra shouldn't have jumped in front of Suarez in celebration at the end,” said the United manager, who lamented the “terrible atmosphere” of the occasion.

The atmosphere at the Stadium of Light was altogether more harmonious – if you were an Arsenal fan. The Gunners came from a goal behind to beat Sunderland 2-1 and move into fourth place above Liverpool and Chelsea.

Thierry Henry was the Arsenal hero, turning the ball into the Sunderland net in stoppage time after Aaron Ramsey had earlier equalised James McClean’s strike for the Black Cats.

It was Henry’s last league appearance for Arsenal before he returns to the New York Red Bulls later this week, but having scored three times in six appearances for the Gunners he was lavishly praised by manager Arsene Wenger: “Exceptional talent survives.

"You have that with [Ryan] Giggs and [Paul] Scholes at Manchester United and Thierry here. It is just a luxury to have a player like him on the bench.”

Chelsea’s miserable run continued as they lost 2-0 away to Everton, their fourth consecutive league match without a win. Steven Pienaar opened the Toffees account on five minutes and Denis Stracqualursi made sure of victory with his effort on 71 minutes.

“It was one of our worst displays of the season - if not the worst,” admitted Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas. “Today we couldn't be ourselves and express our football and we ended up heavily defeated.”

The defeat meant Chelsea slipped down to fifth spot, ten points adrift of third place Tottenham who hammered Newcastle 5-0 at White Hart Lane. The win capped an extraordinary week for Spurs boss Harry Redknapp, who was cleared of cheating the purse and then installed as favourite for the vacant England post.

“I'm focusing purely on Tottenham. I'm not going to leave them in the lurch,” said Redknapp later, still ecstatic at a win that included two goals from new signing Louis Saha.

In other results, there were victories for relegation threatened Wigan and Blackburn, while Fulham beat Stoke 2-1 at Craven Cottage. Finally, Norwich scored three second half goals away at Swansea to win 3-2 and move up into eighth spot. ·