The Post-Match interviews yielded some interesting quotes –

Theo Walcott was in rather high spirits after the match –

He added – “When you are winning by one goal you are not in control .We have to take positives from the performance. We were really close to winning against a great team like Arsenal.”

On first-half penalty shout: “Antonio Valencia is not a player that falls into the ground for no reason.”

While goalscorer Olivier Giroud was obviously very excited – the man has scored more Premier League goals as a sub for Arsenal than anyone else!

“In years gone by this was a very tough place for us to play and we managed to get a result today.”

There was an interesting symmetry to the goal – Giroud’s goal was the first Arsenal had scored against a Mourinho team in the Premier League since May 2007 (Gilberto Silva). It was the only shot on target Arsenal had in the match.

Read Also – Twitter reacts to Giroud earning Arsenal a late draw against Manchester United

Arsene Wenger thinks that his team would have lost this match if it had happened last year

Jose Mourinho, meanwhile, was at his quote-spewing, gloomy best – calling his team the “unluckiest team in the league”

“The players who came on made a massive difference today. When you are 1-0 down and come back to 1-1 of course you have to feel happy.

“We lacked a bit of sharpness today, what is it down to I don’t know but at least we came back.”

He was asked whether there was some kind of mental block – “I wondered during the game about that. Honestly you never know. Last year we would have maybe lost this game and today we didn’t so we have improved on that front. Hopefully now we can kick on with some wins.”

We did not create many chances, it was an intense game. In the first half we did alright without creating much but in the second half they were on top of us and deservedly led.

HE FELT TOO THAT HIS TEAM SHOWED GREAT STEEL TO GET BACK INTO THE TEAM

“After that they dropped back and we are happy to come back for a point. We have shown steel, we want style as well but we had more steel than style today.

“We have good spirit and that has shown today.”

He also refused to blame the referee for the penalty decision that he felt should have gone his way – so very untypically Mourinho, that –

“The team played very well. This team at the moment is the unluckiest team in the Premier League. That is the reality. The team is playing well. Phil Jones played more matches this season than the past three seasons I think. I don’t remember him playing two matches consecutively and big matches.

“I am happy with the work and the guys and I am super happy with the fans. They are amazing. They know to be fair and applaud a team that has dropped two points.”

He made it clear that he thought his team dominated, and for once was very happy about his players performances. HE DID CALL IT ANOTHER DEFEAT, THOUGH –

My feelings are that I know if it was a penalty or not but I don’t want to speak about it because the referee is good. He always give you a positive feeling. He doesn’t want to be the man of the match. He tries to do his best.

“I am proud of the performance and the work we are doing. I can only feel pride but I am obviously very sad for the players and the fans. The feeling is good. I know Man Utd won some matches at home last season and some people were leaving 10 minutes before. Now people are just unhappy with the result but the people know the direction we are going. The reality is we had these three matches at home where we lost six points.”

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