Mourinho has to take off the handbrake

OPPORTUNITY awaits Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford and the question is whether the Manchester United manager has the courage to get on the front foot to try and take it.

Manchester City must realistically lose three times at least if they are to surrender their lead at the top of the Premier League. If that is to happen then I would imagine United themselves are going to have to inflict two of those defeats themselves.

Pep Guardiola’s team have not been at their best recently. They have rescued games late through sheer force of will and although that’s a good characteristic to have, they have not been as imperious as they were in late autumn.

City are not exactly vulnerable but they have at least shown a human side.

In the middle of their back four, John Stones is missed and captain Vincent Kompany has looked slow on the turn occasionally. At left back, they are likely to field a central midfielder in Fabian Delph.

So here is the chance for Mourinho to play Romelu Lukaku ( right) through the middle, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford either side and really let the handbrake off.

United are a better side with the ball than their manager seems to think and they have the pace and firepower to hurt this Manchester City team. Mourinho will not want to lose to Guardiola but can he afford pride to get in the way of going after three points in an oldfashioned United way? Given City’s eightpoint lead, a 3-2 defeat for United would not, for example, be terribly worse than a 0-0 draw. It may be that the sending-off of Paul Pogba at Arsenal last week made Mourinho’s mind up for him. He may feel it too risky to stand toe to toe with City without his most reliable and important midfield player. As a result, he may try to close this game down and knick it by the single goal. That would be a shame. But whatever the case, United simply have to win this game.