Jose's five-point preview - United

Jose Mourinho looks ahead to a key clash against Manchester United in the Premier League at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday (4.30pm).

1 - Team news

No change on the injury front...

Jose: “Matt Doherty and Ben Davies are the only players who are not available, they are still injured, but getting better, plus the young goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman, who had knee surgery, and everything went wonderfully well, maybe he can be back before the end of the season.”

2 - Go compare

After 30 games last season, we were eighth and nine points off the top four - now we're sixth and just three points from West Ham in fourth...

Jose: "We could be, should be, in the top four! But it’s better to be in a good position to attack them, than to be completely away from it. I believe last season when we went to this last period of matches, mathematically we had, but realistically we didn’t have any chance of the top four. Then we chased the top six, which we did on the last day. This time, we can be out of the top six, we can be in the top six, in the top four. It gives us a different range of options to put the players in maximum concentration and ambition for these remaining matches."

3 - 6-1

Does October's spectacular 6-1 win at Old Trafford mean anything now?

Jose: "If we think for one second about what happened in the away match it’s not the way to do it, because that result is not going to happen. I would look to the two previous matches we had - 1-0 up, we were winning, very solid, and we drew with the penalty (June, 2020), and at Old Trafford just after I joined (4 December, 2019), again, a solid game, a compact game, we lost (2-1) with a penalty. This is the reality. We are not far from each other and the game is going to be tight."

4 - United, part 1

It was put to Jose that Sunday had the feeling of a big match...

Jose: "It’s a very important match for us. If you remember last season, we played them in the first match after the lockdown, also very important, everyone considered that match key for our ambitions. This is an important match as well. We have to look at this moment to lots of other teams in the same area as we are, two points more, three points more, two points less, same number of points, and it’s week after week we cannot lose points to them, we have to recover step by step and this match is important like every other match because the three points are there on the pitch to play for."

5 - United, part 2

Finally, what does Jose expect from United on Sunday?

Jose: "Some of the things, I cannot say. But I can say I expect a very good team with very good players, very confident, very calm with the position they have in the table, because their position is very stable. I know the qualities they have as a team. We are going to try and win the match. It is the only thing that I can say."