DOWN ON THEIR LUK

Jose backs his United striker despite no goals against teams in top eight

JOSE MOURINHO has defended Romelu Lukaku – despite the Manchester United striker having failed to score against the Premier League’s top eight sides this season.

Lukaku, a £75million summer signing from Everton, has plundered 21 goals in all competitions this term, but has drawn a blank against the Premier League’s elite teams.

The highest-placed side Lukaku has scored against are Everton, in ninth, having failed to find the net against Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Burnley and Leicester.

Lukaku has the chance to end that miserable record when his old club Chelsea come to Old Trafford in a game that could have a huge bearing on the race for a Champions League place.

Second-placed United are just three points ahead of Antonio Conte’s side in fourth, with defeat for either side inflicting a potentially fatal blow to their top-four hopes.

Against that backdrop, Mourinho could do with Lukaku breaking his duck against the top teams tomorrow and dismissing the growing perception of him as a flat-track bully who can only score against the lesser lights.

Asked why Lukaku had failed to score against the Premier League’s big sides this campaign, Mourinho said: “I don’t know, but I’m not worried, 21 goals is not bad at all.

“I don’t measure the players’ performances the same way you do. I have other points of analysis and I’m happy with Romelu, even when he doesn’t score goals.”

Despite Mourinho’s support for Lukaku, the 24-year-old’s failure against the top teams this season is the continuation of a worrying JOSE MOURINHO has been accused of ‘parking the bus’ against Liverpool and Manchester City this season. The midweek game at Sevilla suggests he remains in the mood against Chelsea too. But how many buses can you actually park on the Old Trafford pitch, which is 105m long by 68m? One of Manchester’s Magic Buses is 2.55m wide and 10.2m long. You could get six head-to-head across the pitch. You could then squeeze in 41 rows of six, making a total of 246. pattern that has dogged the Belgium star throughout his Premier League career.

Of the 85 Premier League goals Lukaku scored for West Brom and Everton before moving to Old Trafford, only 15 came in 57 games against the established big six of United, City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham.

Mourinho has been embroiled in an ongoing war of words with Chelsea boss Conte this season, but tried to defuse their ugly spat by praising his arch rival ahead of their eagerly-awaited encounter. He added: “I don’t want to speak about it, I’m not going to speak about it.

“That’s not the point – very good manager, fantastic team and that’s what’s important for me.”

Mourinho, who had two spells at Chelsea, the last one ending acrimoniously with his sacking in December 2015, also claimed he bore no ill-feeling towards his former club.

“No, to play against Chelsea will mean less and less and less with the years,” he said.

“I left already a couple of years ago. Next season it will be three years ago so, step-by-step, that feeling of ‘I was Chelsea manager’ or ‘I was their manager for them’, I think disappears.

“I have a good relationship with the board. I don’t forget how nice they were to me in a difficult period with the passing of my father.

“They showed me in that moment they still feel for me as a friend that did his best for the club and always respected the club so, in relation to the board, they know the relationship with me is always good.

“With the players, I don’t have any problems, any regrets, any stone in my shoe, no problem at all, and the fans are fans.”