Mourinho Discusses Plans For Chelsea

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho will wait before finalising his plans for Sunday's Premier League showdown at Chelsea.

The manager hinted the next couple of days will be important in deciding whether any of his injured players could make a return with Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Marcos Rojo those currently on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Jesse Lingard was withdrawn during the Champions League victory over Benfica after appearing to take a painful blow to his back. The midfielder, who scored in the 1-1 draw at the Blues' home in 2016, will hope to shake the knock off.

"I have to wait a little bit," said the boss, when asked about six players being on the injury list. "Normally, the press conference is a bit later in the week, we still have Friday and Saturday [to come]. I'm not very optimistic, but I don't want to lie. I don't want you to say that I told a lie when I said there's no chance of recovering - so I prefer just to say two more days to confirm my expectation."

With an international break to follow after the trip to the capital, there will be a hope some of the injured players make strides behind the scenes in their bid to regain fitness.

Chelsea could be boosted by the return of influential midfielder N'Golo Kante, who has twice scored for the Blues in this fixture (once in the league and again in the FA Cup) since arriving from Leicester City. Antonio Conte's side suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat to Roma in the Champions League in midweek and look likely to still be without Victor Moses.

United have a poor recent record in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge but will be in a positive mood ahead of the key match against the champions, Mourinho's former club.

"It's a big thing because it's a big match and because it's a big opponent," said the manager. "They are the champions and because it's one of these matches between the top teams in the country. But, from the emotional point of view, it's just one more game."