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Jose Mourinho: 'It is the first time I have seen Arsenal fans happy'
Jose Mourinho could not resist a swipe at Arsenal and manager Arsene Wenger after losing for the first time in 15 competitive games against the Frenchman.
A deflected Granit Xhaka strike and a Danny Welbeck goal gave Arsenal a 2-0 victory over United that kept the Gunners’ top-four hopes alive, and left Mourino’s men concentrating on the Europa League to try to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
The win also ended Arsenal’s hoodoo against Mourinho, who said: “I’m happy for them. It’s the first time I leave and they’re happy. I leave Highbury, they were crying. I leave the Emirates and they were crying, walking the streets with heads low. Today they leave with their scarves.
“It’s a big club. You think I enjoy a big club like Arsenal not winning trophies? I don’t enjoy it. But today I tried to win.”
Mourinho and Wenger shook hands before and after the game, and the United manager added: “Arsene Wenger is not a small manager, he’s a big manager, to have that record of winning so many matches is not normal. Normal is win, lose, draw.
“I really don’t care about it today. No problems. We shook hands and during the game I don’t like what I never like. He puts too much pressure on the fourth official every time.”
Mourinho made eight changes for the trip to the Emirates, ahead of Thursday night’s Europa League semi-final second-leg against Celta Vigo, and conceded United have no chance of finishing in the top four of the Premier League.
“It’s impossible,” said Mourinho. “For two reasons. I don’t think the others playing one match a week are going to lose. And because we go with everything on Thursday and cannot go with everything at Tottenham.
“Even if you go with everything at Tottenham, it’s difficult. Without everything, it’s more difficult. Then Southampton and Crystal Palace. I don’t think we have any chance of the top four. We have to chase the Champions League by trying to win the Europa League.
“My changes were not to improve my team, but to give rest to the people who need rest. Now they have 90 minutes in their legs and they will be ready to play Thursday. We will have our core ready for a very important match.
“We didn’t deserve to lose. First half, they had a couple of chances, we had a couple but ours were the big chances of the match. I’m very happy with the players, they surprised me in positive way.
“I thought Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Juan Mata couldn’t cope with 90 minutes. The kid (Axel Tuanzebe) was brilliant. The guys accumulating matches tried their best, despite playing 90 minutes two days ago.”
Arsenal are now six points behind fourth-placed Manchester City with one game in hand and seven behind third-placed Liverpool with two games in hand – the first of which is against Southampton on Wednesday night.
“We have a big game on Wednesday,” said Wenger. “Southampton are a good team, technically and collectively they play well. They have good possession of the ball, so we need to fully recover and focus to win on Wednesday. We still have a chance (of the top four) mathematically and we need some help as well from the teams around us.
“It was important to respond after the derby. We lost at Tottenham and it did not happen many times and then you play Man United in another big game and you cannot afford to lose today. We had just one blip and I think it was a bit physical, but, overall, we look a bit more stable.”