Andre Villas-Boas has jumped to the defence of Ashley Cole after his tackle on Javier Hernandez in Manchester United's 3-1 win over Chelsea.
Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson was critical of the England international full-back for launching in a nasty tackle on the Mexican marksman near the end of the success, which only resulted in a yellow card.
Ferguson is sweating on the extent of Hernandez's injury, although Villas-Boas claims the defender might not have made the tackle if the officials had got earlier decisions right at Old Trafford.
"Maybe he wouldn't get sent off if the linesman does his work," commented Villas-Boas. "He would have been less emotionally drained.
"I work the other way round. You are trying to say the referee did something wrong. I cannot forget the previous two.
"If it was 0-0 maybe Ashley is a little bit more mentally in control of the situation and doesn't do the red card foul that you mention."
The former Porto boss is not reading too much in the Old Trafford defeat, stating the league is wide open having seen the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City also fail to win over the weekend.
"As I said before, nothing that happened here would mean anything in the Premier League table," he continued. "It is an unexpected league.
"Manchester City have the most amazing squad as well, but they didn't win. Arsenal and Liverpool lost.
"All of the five contenders are there. Anything can happen.
"The most regular is United at the moment but we showed we are up to the level of the champions."
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