Top four will leave Manchester United behind – Mourinho

Manchester United coach, Jose Mourinho, has admitted the Premier League’s top four will leave them behind, as they enter an enforced break.

United are currently two points behind the top four places, but are set to turn their attention to other competitions.

They welcome St Etienne in the Europa League on Thursday, before an FA Cup fifth-round clash with Blackburn Rovers, a trip to play St Etienne in France and the EFL Cup final against Southampton.

This means Mourinho’s men will not play in the league until March 4.

“They will leave us,” he said of United’s top-four rivals.

“The other teams will have points so, for sure, it’s going to happen.

“That’s the way it is. I don’t think it is easy, because you want to play the competition, but at the same time we have motivation.

“We play the Europa League, so let’s enjoy the Europa League. We also have a cup final. I don’t believe anyone goes to Wembley not happy to go, so we go, we play.

“We know in this moment that Southampton are probably going to have some days off. I don’t know if they go to a summer camp to some nice, beautiful place with nice weather to prepare for the final.

Blind: Man Utd will finish in top four

“The only thing I know is their next game is the final and we have to play three matches during this period. We have to train in this cold weather, we have to train on bad pitches at this time, because the weather doesn’t help the pitches.

“So our situation isn’t easy. But we have to enjoy it, because it’s to play football, it’s to play important matches.”

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