Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho has claimed that Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have a major advantage over the Red Devils due to the players they have during pre-season.
United players such as Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Marouane Fellaini, Ashley Young and Phil Jones will be away during the majority of United’s pre-season campaign following their participation at the World Cup.
For this reason, Mourinho said the players that Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal already have gave them an advantage for the start of the new season.
Asked by reporters in the US if he believes his rivals are in a similar position, Mourinho replied, “If you look at the players Chelsea and Liverpool have in pre-season, especially these two teams, also Arsenal, I think if you compare you see the difference of the situation
“Man City and Tottenham in similar situation as we are.
“But you can see other clubs are in a different situation.
“I look to Leicester, if I’m not wrong, only [Harry] Maguire and [Jamie] Vardy were in the World Cup in the final phase, because [Kasper] Schmeichel was back sooner.
“So I think a team working for six weeks minimum with all the players, except one central defender and one striker that can join in the last weekend and probably be available. Is clear it’s a much better situation for them.
“When I look to Brighton, I don’t think they have any player that isn’t doing a very good pre-season with lots of training and matches
“So against Leicester and Brighton the situation is not amazing for us.
“I would say third match, playing against a team [Tottenham] in a similar situation as us, after three weeks is okay, is almost like you need a pre-season with them but for the first two matches we have to fight for the points.
“So that is what we are going to do with the players available.”
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