Mourinho's Team News Update For Saturday

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says he is unable to give Romelu Lukaku a rest, after praising the Belgian's application, as he discussed his striking options for the clash with Southampton.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's teatime encounter at Old Trafford, the boss suggested neither Lukaku nor Zlatan Ibrahimovic are fully fit, with the Swede still working his way back from a long-term lay-off, even though both started against Burnley on Boxing Day.

"No, I can't [give Lukaku a rest]," said Jose. "Now, I say 20 matches in the Premier League, 90 minutes [for Romelu]. I think for a striker, for any player, [it] is absolutely incredible. But if you are central defender, if you are a holding midfield player, if you are in certain kinds of positions where you can control your energy and positional play a little bit more, you can resist and survive.

"But, for a striker in the Premier League, to play 20 matches, 90 minutes, I have to be very grateful for his personality and for his character. He's been unlucky in our box in recent matches. He was in the picture, I'm not saying he was a direct influence, in some of the latest goals we conceded. It's a consequence of a player who really needs a little rest or just a consequence of the moment of the occasion. But the guy is fantastic for me and the team and gives absolutely everything and I have no criticisms."

In terms of fielding both centre-forwards again, Mourinho explained: "It can happen but, for it to happen, they both need to be in their best moment and they are not.

"One is not because the situation in this team didn't allow him to have any rest and is giving absolutely everything in every minute and we just managed to give him a little rest in cup matches and, even so, he was on the bench for emergency situations.

"The Champions League was about the same - we had to fight until the last match for qualification and the boy is tired. He's physically a monster but he's not a machine and I think he's feeling it. And Zlatan is a man with an incredible injury, an injury that a 20-year-old man or a 20-year-old young man would suffer [from]. Imagine a man who is 37 years old and so many miles in high-level football, so it's not easy. We did that [play the two together] against Burnley and we will do that in some more matches if we need to do it, but I think for both of them to play together, we really need them to be at their best level."

Chris Smalling, Matteo Darmian, Anthony Martial and Antonio Valencia have all picked up knocks and the boss did tell MUTV he did not expect any injured players to return at the weekend. However, Marcos Rojo is still available despite initial fears he would be suspended after his early yellow card against Burnley. Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini and Eric Bailly are definitely all out.

Southampton are missing banned striker Charlie Austin and injured full-backs Ryan Bertrand and Cedric, while Virgil van Dijk is on his way to Liverpool.