The latest from north London - Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has discussed his team selection ahead of this afternoon’s clash with Manchester United.

Making three changes to the starting XI from last Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Newcastle United, Serge Aurier, Eric Dier and Heung-Min Son have come in for Japhet Tanganga, Davinson Sanchez and Carlos Vinicius.

“We have changed a right-back and a centre-back for another right-back and another centre-back. And Sonny was on the bench (against Newcastle) after an injury and we believe that after this, one more week of work, he’s ready to start and eventually to play 90 minutes,” Jose discussed.

On the return of Eric Dier, who makes his first start in the Premier League since February, he said: “(At the start of the season) he played 16 matches in a row. 16 matches of 90 minutes. That’s a lot of football. Then we changed and tried other options. He played in Croatia, his last 90 minutes, we didn’t play him in the last couple of matches, he’s coming back for this one.”

In our initial meeting with United back in October, we dominated proceedings at Old Trafford, earning an emphatic 6-1 win on an unforgettable day for us in the north west. As we meet them again today though, Jose knows we can’t begin to expect the same result. He is sure we will have a fight on our hands to take all three points.

“When I have lost badly, I have never had that feeling of revenge. I always had the feeling of ‘it happens once, it’s not going to happen twice’, but it is up to them,” our Head Coach explained as he pondered United’s approach. “For us, we know that the reality of the two teams is not a difference of five goals, we know that the result happens once, it doesn’t happen more than that. We know we are going to fight for the points but completely forgetting (the 6-1 win). There is no point in looking back to that match.”