Monday 1 January 2018 09:24, UK
Jose Mourinho says he feels "unlucky" because of refereeing decisions going against Manchester United.
Referee Craig Pawson waved play on as the ball appeared to strike Maya Yoshida's hand in Southampton's 0-0 draw at Old Trafford on Saturday, United's fourth consecutive game without a win.
Mourinho believes it is the third occasion United have not been awarded a clear penalty, following incidents against Manchester City and Leicester City.
"I feel unlucky," said Mourinho, speaking ahead of United's trip to Everton on New Year's Day, live on Sky Sports Premier League. "But unlucky in football you have to change, which is what we try to do.
"When I speak about three big decisions, penalties in matches where a penalty, and a possible goal, makes a huge difference, I want to say unlucky because it is what I feel.
"I could be here now with a bias theory, which I'm not going [to do] at all, because honestly I'm happy with the referees' performances in these matches, and [they] were just unlucky decisions.
"You have to be biased against us to say the penalty against City, against Leicester and against Southampton were not penalties."
Mourinho insists he is happy with the "quality and spirit" of United's performances, while admitting results must improve, but is eager for more recovery time to deal with a growing injury list.
Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (out for a month) will both miss United's next two fixtures, adding to long-term absentees Marouane Fellaini, Michael Carrick, Antonio Valencia and Eric Bailly.
"The fact that we don't play Carabao Cup semi-finals I think is a good thing for us because we have no players to play these possible two extra matches in January," said Mourinho.
"Now we have to cope with Everton and Derby, after that we have an open space of nine to 10 days before Stoke and hopefully in this period we can rest, we can work, we can recover some players to attack the second part of the season.
"We finish the year in third in the table and we have to fight to improve our position."
