Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is convinced their Premiership hopes are being hit by a biased fixture list.

"They say the league's not handicapped but it is handicapped," Ferguson told Sky Sports News while reflecting on Saturday's reverse at Arsenal.

"Every game after a European tie is away from home.

"We've got the top 10 teams from last year's league all away from home in the first half of the season.

"So you can see it's been a big challenge to us.

"But hopefully, if we can get in among the top ones come the turn of the year, we'll have a big chance next year."

United's failure to take their chances was clearly frustrating for the long-serving Scot.

"The consolation you take out of it is we played some fantastic football," he said. "And I think we made the best chances of the match and we could have scored four, five, maybe six goals.

"But you have to take those ones early and that's what cost us the game."