José Mourinho claimed his Manchester United team were the unluckiest in the Premier League after a third home draw in a row and should by rights be occupying a top four position.

The United manager also contended Arsenal’s late equaliser in the 1-1 lunchtime draw at Old Trafford might have been prevented had Marouane Fellaini been available to help out in defence. “When the cross came in we didn’t have enough tall, strong players in the box to deal with it,” he said. “If Fellaini had been on the bench I’d have brought him on to help us see out the last few minutes.”

Arsenal claimed a point courtesy of Olivier Giroud’s 89th-minute header, the Gunners’ only attempt on target in the whole match. United did not create a great deal of chances either, though might have had a penalty in the first half when Antonio Valencia went down under Nacho Monreal’s challenge and could have had a second goal before Arsenal scored when Marcos Rojo missed the target with a free header.

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“We had chances to score and win the game comfortably,” Mourinho said. “It was just like the draws against Stoke and Burnley. We have taken three points from those games and it should have been nine. Everybody knows we are the unluckiest team in the Premier League. We should have six points more and that would put us in the top four, as it is we have a lot more work to do.

“I am very happy with the work my players put in, but at the same time disappointed for them because this result feels like a defeat. We controlled the game against a very good team, we didn’t see anything of Arsenal’s amazing players and we didn’t allow them to build from the back, but we end up with one point. Finally I lost against Arséne.”

Mourinho is playing with words there, if not actually running out of them, since Wenger has yet to beat a Mourinho side. The unvarnished fact is that David Moyes did better than 19 points from his first 12 games at Old Trafford, and so did Louis Van Gaal last season. Mourinho has been around long enough to know that goals and not chances win games, and when he began a spiel about needing time to turn United around he came close to talking himself into trouble.

“How long has Mr Wenger been with his team?” he began, reasonably enough. In the next breath he mentioned Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham, and when he realised the next best example was Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool, who in just over a year has reached two finals and topped the league, he changed tack. “Chelsea and Liverpool don’t play in Europe this season,” he said. “They have a week to prepare for each game and are in a much better position to improve than we are.”

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The United manager would not be drawn on the penalty incident after being sent to the stands for protesting too forcibly about the last one. “I have seen a few replays and I know what I think, but I don’t want to say what I think other than to affirm Andre Marriner is a good referee who usually tries to give balance,” the suddenly gnomic one said.

Arsène Wenger was much freer to comment. “In my view it was not a penalty but no one will be surprised to hear that,” the Arsenal manager said. “José Mourinho thought it was a penalty but no one will be surprised to hear that either. It was not an easy game to referee but I think it was a fair game.

“We put in a serious defensive performance, though offensively we have played a lot better. I thought we scored a great goal though, we showed a never give up attitude. There is something in the squad that is remarkable.”