Manchester United’s shot at a record Premier League points total disappeared at the Emirates, but Sir Alex Ferguson refused to believe his title-winning side were partied out.
Theo Walcott opened the scoring shortly after Arsenal had entertained a guard of honour for the champions, before Robin van Persie’s first half leveller against his former side.
The draw means United cannot match Chelsea’s record tally, but Ferguson – whose team were spotted celebrating until 7am on Tuesday morning – was more concerned with a lack of discipline on the pitch.
“No, we didn’t over-celebrate,” he said. “It was a fantastic pace, a lot of tackles went in and I think the referee just couldn’t keep up t that point.
“Then we’ve had a foul and he’s booked us right away, we had five players booked, we’ve got one of the best discipline records in the country.
“For Manchester United to have five players booked, I don’t think it’s right that – but we expected a tough game and we got a tough game.”
The Red Devils boss also felt his side had the best of the chances and should have put the game beyond the Gunners in the first half.
“It swung back and forth in the second half, the first 20 minutes we were surprised by their aggression and tackles,” he added.
“I think it put us on the back foot, but we probably had the best chances of the match, we had four fantastic chances from headers, a bit more composure and we’d have won the game.
“Obviously, the game went in the last 20 minutes to being end-to-end stuff, but the best chances fell to us and we should’ve done better with them.
“Once we’d scored, if we’d have taken one or two of our chances in the first half we’d have won quite comfortably, we always looked a bigger threat.”
Image courtesy of BBC Sport, via YouTube, with thanks.
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