Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has refuted allegations that he made offensive gestures to Reading fans as his team battled to a 2-0 Premier League victory at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

Television pictures showed Ferguson pumping his fists and putting his left hand on to his right arm after Cristiano Ronaldo's late goal secured all three points to keep the champions at the top. Wayne Rooney had broken the deadlock after 77 minutes.

An FA spokesman confirmed that they would study video evidence of the incident, but Ferguson denied he was responding to taunts from the home fans.

"All I was doing was expressing my relief at winning what was one of our hardest games of the season," the United boss told reporters in Riyadh where United are playing in a testimonial match for former Saudi Arabia skipper Sami Al-Jaber.

"Reading always make it tough for us. We ran so much that we clocked up more kilometres than we have in any game this season."

United also defended the club's 6,500-mile round trip to the Middle East to play in a the match which will earn United around 1.0 million pounds.

United's chief executive Daid Gill told reporters: "We get lots of opportunities to play overseas. I always discuss them with Alex and if it didn't work out on the football side, we wouldn't do it."

Manchester United return from Saudi Arabia on Thursday and face Tottenham Hotspur in an FA Cup fourth round tie at Old Trafford on Sunday.