Sheffield United's Chris Wilder accuses Lee Mason of lacking courage by reprieving David Luiz

Arsenal were the better team in their 2-1 home win, but were fortunate not to have centre-back David Luiz sent off after five minutes.

The Brazilian pulled Oliver Burke's shirt when he was the last defender, but no free-kick was given. It upset Wilder, who saw John Egan sent off for a professional foul in the 13th minute of his side's 1-0 defeat at Villa Park – wrongly according to the head of English referees.

“I've had Mike Riley onto me saying (the Egan decision) was a mistake and the Sander Berge decision last week was a mistake so that's two decisions which were a mistake and we've had another one today.

“He (referee Lee Mason) has got to show courage. There's five of them making a decision. I see it, our assistant manager sees it, our first-team coach sees it and all our subs see it and five people don't see he pulled his shirt. I'm not trying to make things up, I'm not clutching at straws.

“That's what all this stuff with VAR was brought in for, to make the right decision.

“John Egan, that was made. He didn't go over to look at VAR, I don't understand why.

“I'm going to be annoyed and frustrated about it.

“We're looking for small wins, little bits that might help us because the one at Villa didn't help us. Dean Smith looked at it and said John should get sent off and I'm saying David Luiz should get sent off, and I thought that was clearer.

“When things aren't going for you, you look for a little slice of luck.”

The Blades pulled a goal back through David McGoldrick's 83rd-minute goal, although Wilder admitted a draw would have been undeserved. Rhian Brewster is set to make his debut after the international break having not signed from Liverpool in time to feature in north London, and there could be other changes too.

“We had a foothold in the game for 50, 55 minutes,” Wilder reflected. “I was a little bit disappointed from our point of view with the possession of the ball (35 per cent) but we're not playing with that flow and confidence we've showed in the Premier League, which is understandable, I suppose. In five minutes the game gets taken away from us.

“From their point of view it was a fabulous goal, quick play around our box which is always difficult to defend against no matter who you are and (Nicolas) Pepe had a fabulous finish to leave us chasing the game.

“We felt sorry for ourselves for about five minutes, got ourselves back in the game with a goal and then showed good spirit and desire to try and get something from the game.

“It would have been smash and grab if we'd got a results but there seem to be that way in quite a lot of the Premier League games this season.

“We went to the end so I commend my players for that but five minutes have done us.

“We'll keep going, keep believing. It's a side built on togetherness and resilience. We have to be if you've seen our rise over the last three or four years. We've got characters in the dressing room who will stick together and believe in what we're doing but the team is not playing with the flow and confidence I and everybody connected to the football club would like.

“A few things we can't control are going against us but we try and control what we can control.

“It's not an enjoyable time but this is a test of players, managers and clubs. We're not an established club in this division, we're working our way up and trying to build.

“But when you lose games it does open up, we've got some players that are really knocking on the door so I've got to make sure I pick the right side against Fulham. There's a lot of spirit in the group but a few players not playing as well as they possibly should be and there are some good players not playing for us.

“Ethan was a difficult decision for us but I thought (Chris) Basham was outstanding. We changed him because we changed the shape but he was an absolute warrior for us. Max Lowe and Jayden are knocking on the door as well and Rhian hasn't played a lot of football so we'll condition him.”

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Thank you,

James Mitchinson