Man United once again moved against a member of the ‘big six’ … they lack confidence when it matters

Perhaps the fact that these two teams got this result with a level of satisfaction said it all about them. This felt about 90 minutes of damage limitation.

But this is probably what happened when you left for a while without a Premier League title. Almost eight years for Manchester United, almost 17 for Arsenal, how amazing that is.

Maybe a little of the credit goes. Maybe some winning instinct goes with it.

On the face of it, this is a season that offers a great opportunity for these big clubs. Both have improved their shape and the half is surprisingly grounded. A good run – as United recently discovered – can get you places quickly.

But this was a disgraceful game for the Emirates. There was a lack of intensity and any feeling that it was very important.

Even if a win for United would be held hard on the shoulders of Manchester City leaders and a win for Arsenal would take them to the edge of the European race, the two seemed to mark some time.

It was particularly strange from United. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side beat Liverpool in the FA Cup a week earlier and they were not away from home in the Premier League all season.

But they never looked as if they were in a hurry to try to win this game and a look at their results against the big traditional teams in the league this season shows a pattern .

In six games against Arsenal (who have now played twice), Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool, United have lost one goal (penalty) and failed.

That shows that they have lost some of that trade confidence. If so, they need to find a way to recover.

Here, they may have won. Edinson Cavani missed two notable chances in the second half. Arsenal had chances earlier in the half. Willian fired weakly when unmarked and Nicolas Pepe hit Harry Maguire’s medal when it looked like he was going to score. Alexandre Lacazette then hit the bottom of the bar with a free kick.

So United should not feel miserable when reflecting on this result. In the first half in particular, Arsenal looked like they could be beaten. They missed three of their best players and looked insecure. United should have pursued them strongly, but they did not succeed.

‘We are feeling frustrated in our dressing room,’ United keeper David de Gea said afterwards.

‘We missed the chance to beat Arsenal. I think we did enough, we created enough opportunities to win. They probably controlled just the 10 minutes they had in the second half. Our chances were good too, but we did enough to win today.

‘If we want to win, we have to take the chances.’

That was a generous assessment. The most accurate was the one from teammate Luke Shaw. He called United’s show ‘sloppy’.

Just as sharp were the words of former United captain Roy Keane.

Keane can be a bit of an analyst at times but in questioning the condemnation levels of his former team this time, he was quite right.

This season started with low expectations at Old Trafford so everything should feel like a free hit. Against Arsenal and in the home loss by Sheffield United in midweek, they were just looking blocked.

Some have said United’s improved efforts this season will set them in good shape for the next one; develop the squad and use this year’s experience to get started.

But the problem with that theory is that it ignores the fact that City and Liverpool’s heroes are likely to return to previous levels for 2021-22. This has been an unusual season but the next one should feel more normal.

So United will have to reach really high next season if they are to be relevant to the title race. Arsenal’s meek, unadventurous, scoreless draws hardly cut the beard this season and certainly won’t when the next one goes around.