Erik ten Hag has repeated his bizarre claim that Manchester United deserved to win against Arsenal in September.

All the way back at the start of September, Arsenal dispatched Manchester United with a 3-1 win at the Emirates Stadium.

United had briefly led the contest through a goal from Marcus Rashford, but that lead lasted less than 60 seconds, with Martin Odegaard quickly restoring parity.

The Gunners then scored twice in second-half injury time to take all three points, but Erik ten Hag continues to believe that his side “deserved” to win.

“I think we can beat any opponent, away or home,” ten Hag said on Sunday, five months after the game. “But sometimes, away, we have to believe it more.

“We could have won [at] Arsenal. Actually, we deserved there to win.”

To a casual onlooker, it might be hard to see why ten Hag believes Manchester United deserved to win at the Emirates.

As mentioned, the away side only led the match for the briefest of moments. Arsenal had 2.53 expected goals to Manchester United’s 0.98, they had more of the possession, more of the shots, and they had the ball in more dangerous areas.

Only three of Arsenal’s outfield players had an average position inside their own half: William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Oleksandr Zinchenko.

By contrast, Manchester United had seven players with an average position in their own half, and only one (Rashford) averaged further forward than the centre-circle.

Arsenal had more of the ball, in better areas, they made better use of it, and they scored more goals.

We have to assume that ten Hag is instead suggesting that his side were unfairly denied a goal they should have had, presumably for Alejandro Garnacho’s offside finish in the 89th minute.

At the time, the United manager said “it’s not offside, the wrong angle”.

It was a strange claim even in the heat of the moment, as it doesn’t matter what angle the VAR technicians use to draw the lines for offside (the technology accounts for perspective). But it’s an even stranger position to stand by five months later.

The Premier League’s independent Key Match Incidents panel reviewed all the incidents in the Manchester United game, and it was recently revealed that the officials did make one mistake – by failing to award the Gunners a penalty.

Arsenal were initially awarded a spot-kick for a foul on Kai Havertz, but VAR overturned the decision, despite replays showing contact on the German international.

The KMI panel have admitted this was one of three wrong decisions this season where VAR intervened and it shouldn’t have.

In another world, with better officiating, perhaps Arsenal would have won 4-1 instead.