Jose Mourinho met the media a couple hours ago for his weekly press conference and we have the video for you, via YouTube below. Mourinho will be without central defenders Phil Jones and Eric Bailly when they host Brighton & Hove Albion, but midfielder Paul Pogba will make his third start in a row. Given that he was handed the captaincy Wednesday night, he is likely to wear the arm band again tomorrow.
However, one of the main topics of discussion here was the league title race and the gap between the Red Devils and Manchester City.
Fixture congestion was also a hot topic during this Mourinho press session.
Mourinho said: “We cannot think about the gap, we cannot think about the gap to City, we just have to focus on ourselves and the matches.
“It’s probably the first time this season with three Premier League matches in one week, with a couple of days in between matches, but you know I think every team is prepared for that, even when I look to teams with other ambitions I see fantastic squads so I think the teams are going to cope with the week.”
“For us Brighton, Watford and Arsenal is a very important week but let’s focus on Brighton, ninth in the table, good team, difficult to beat, don’t concede many goals, has a mix of physicality, aggression, quality creativity and I think Chris [Hughton] is doing a great job.
“We must focus on this one. I know we have a good record at home and are strong at home but the opponent is going to be difficult for us.”
Odds: Man Utd 1/5, draw 6/1, Brighton 18/1
For the injury report go to this link.
For the MUFC starting XI prediction, go to this link. This will be the first every Premier League clash between these two clubs and the first of any competition since 1993. As always feel free to post your own MUFC starting XI and match score predictions in the comments section below.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.