MANCHESTER UNITED should be deducted points for fielding 'their B team' against Leicester on Tuesday, according to Trevor Sinclair.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made TEN changes to his team that beat Aston Villa on Sunday with another fixture against Liverpool to be played on Thursday.
United's 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford had a huge impact on the race for the top four with the Foxes moving eight points clear of Sinclair's old club West Ham in fifth.
The result also handed Manchester City – another of Sinclair's former clubs – their third Premier League title in four seasons.
City made nine changes for their weekend defeat to Chelsea which also saw the Blues pull away from West Ham in the Champions League race but Sinclair's focus was on United.
Solskjaer insisted he needed to rotate his team in the build-up to their second game in 48 hours – after the Liverpool match got rearranged due to fan protests getting the original fixture postponed.
But with Anthony Elanga, Amad Diallo and Brandon Williams all starting the game ex-England ace Sinclair thinks United need to be sanctioned.
The 48-year-old – who is still much loved by West Ham fans – told TalkSPORT: “Without being disrespectful to the players that played tonight, they made ten changes, this is their ‘B’ team.
“I think that’s disrespectful and it takes away from the top four race. Why didn’t the police and the club make amendments and make sure they safeguard the stadium? They didn’t do that.
“The teams that are going to suffer from Man Utd’s lack of due diligence, the ones who could miss out on the top four, are Chelsea possibly, Liverpool, West Ham and Tottenham.
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“I think there needs to be a punishment for Man Utd. Three points isn’t enough because that doesn’t affect anything.
“I honestly feel the way they put out this team, the way they didn’t safeguard their stadium, I think a six-point deduction should be given to Manchester United.”
Hammers boss David Moyes was also unhappy with the situation and questioned the integrity of the Premier League with Man Utd being forced to play three games in five days.
The Scot said: "The Premier League should be answering these questions.
"It was really interesting when we were coming back (from the coronavirus lockdown), a lot was made about integrity.
"Ole can do what he likes with his team, but I don’t know if there was a better way to sort the fixtures out. Manchester United can always put out a strong team."
Despite valid concerns about the nature of the fixtures, West Ham did not help themselves in their top-four hunt with a 1-0 defeat at home to Everton on Sunday.
To play in Europe's elite club competition next season, the Hammers would need to make up the eight-point gap on Leicester and hope Liverpool slip up too.
However, Liverpool's game in hand is against Man Utd and Leicester face Chelsea and Tottenham in the remaining games which they could easily lose.
And West Ham face bottom-half trio Brighton, West Brom and Southampton.
Moyes added: "Our chances of the Champions League are looking slim, but we'll keep fighting.
"I’d set my target and I knew where we had to go, and defeat might be costly for us but you never know in football, we might be saying something different in time."
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