Cesc Fabregas demands referee consistency after 'handball'

Fabregas gave away a penalty earlier this season for a similar incident (GETTY IMAGES)

Cesc Fabregas has criticised referees for inconsistency claiming Arsenal were denied a last-minute penalty at Wigan for exactly the same offence as he was penalised for against Tottenham.

Fabregas was suspended for last night's 2-2 draw at Wigan, but referee Lee Probert incurred the Gunners skipper's wrath for refusing to penalise James McArthur when Samir Nasri's free-kick clearly hit his hands in the last minute of the match.

The Spanish midfielder said on his Twitter account: "What's the difference between this handball and my one versus Spurs? Referees don't want us to complain about them but they make life difficult for themselves.

"I'm not complaining at all, I'm just saying why on the same thing some refs say it's a penalty and some not. Is it a rule or just what they feel?"

The incident involving Fabregas came at home to Spurs in November when Arsenal ended up losing 3-2.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said of the Wigan incident: "I personally did not see it but Nasri is adamant it was a 100% penalty."

Wenger also insisted his decision to make eight changes was not a gamble that backfired despite Arsenal letting 10-man Wigan off the hook.

The Gunners were leading 2-1, with Charles N'Zogbia having been red-carded for head-butting Jack Wilshere, only for the home side to level thanks to an own goal by Sebastian Squillaci.

Wenger insisted, however, that he had no option but to rest many of those players from Monday's 3-1 win over Chelsea.

The Arsenal manager said: "I had to change the team, with all these matches we cannot play always with the same team, but I don't think that was a problem at all.

"We had a disadvantage that Manchester United has not got - Wigan played three days ago and we played 48 hours ago, a big game in the evening.

"It is a point and we will see at the end of the season how important it is.

"I don't think it's a shame - overall the draw was all right, Wigan had chances as well."

Ben Watson's penalty had given the home side a deserved lead, but Arsenal replied to go in ahead at the break through Andrei Arshavin's brilliant scissors-kick and Nicklas Bendtner's calm finish.

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez declared himself "extremely pleased" with the result but criticised N'Zogbia for his red card, although claimed the French winger had come in for rough treatment.

Martinez said: "There's no excuses - that's unacceptable, it's a bad reaction.

"Charles started the game very well, he won a penalty, he gets kicked in every game and there's a lot of emotions but you cannot accept that sort of reaction.

"He let his team down - football is a team game and the reaction of the players got Charles out of jail in that respect. We'll deal with it internally but it's something I don't like.

"Sometimes in football you need to react in the right manner even if you are getting kicked all over the place.

"From the first minute Charles got a rough treatment and you want to protect the skilful players and that protection should come from other areas not from himself."