Mourinho is hoping all the luck will go his side’s way this time round
Jose Mourinho knows exactly what it takes to be a Champion. He has been a title-winner on eight occasions.
So he is well aware that you need Lady Luck on your side along the way to be successful. And that is exactly what he is seeing with Liverpool right now.
Today’s opponents have made their best-ever start to a league season and have made it through to the last-16 of the Champions League.
But Mourinho has noticed things in the last fortnight that have definitely gone in their favour to keep the momentum going.
United will attempt to be the first team to beat Liverpool in the Premier League this season, and first to win at Anfield since April, 2017.
There is a 16-point gap between the two clubs, and Mourinho just hopes that Liverpool expect an easy afternoon, so his team can spring a surprise.
“Of course, Liverpool are very confident about themselves,” he says.
“They are top of the league and they have this feeling – and I know that feeling well – of being the ‘lucky ones’ where everything goes in your direction.
“They know how they beat Everton. They know that in the last league match the opening goal was offside.
“They know that against Napoli in the Champions League, they could have been out in the last seconds.
“They have this feeling and obviously they are very, very confident. But I think they are not stupid.
“They know the match they have is difficult. They know that we have our weaknesses, and our strengths, and they will respect our strengths.
“If they don’t do that, I will be happy. But I think they know that the game is very difficult.
“They know they’ll need every point if they want to be Champions. So they are professionals and being professional is respecting Manchester United. “They know we can go there and win.” Mourinho has not lost to Liverpool since he took over at United. They have twice gone to Anfield and blunted their opponents’ attack in goalless draws.
Mohamed Salah is used to carving teams open, as he showed with his hattrick at Bournemouth and the winner
against Napoli in midweek.
But United are the only club in the Premier League against whom the Egyptian has not scored.
But that doesn’t lessen the threat he carries. Mourinho knows Salah is now a very different player to the one he brought over to England, from Swiss side Basel, when he was Chelsea manager.
“He has developed incredibly well at every level since then,” he admits.
“His development has been amazing physically. He was a fast, strong boy and now he is a fast, strong man.
“He was not psychologically adapted coming direct from a small club in Switzerland to a big club in England and the Premier League. It was too much.
“I remember I played him at Tottenham and at Manchester City and it was too much for him. Now he plays everywhere.
“He can go to Barcelona, he can go to Real Madrid and he plays like: ‘I am Momo Salah and I am afraid of nobody’.
“He gained good experience in Italy and coming back here, he is a fantastic player, completely different to the potential player we brought from Basel to Chelsea.
“He was a project player. Now he is one of the best players in the world.
“Every match we try to analyse opponents, their strengths and weaknesses. When you go to Liverpool they have many strengths, but, of course, Salah is nuclear in that strength.
“We have to think about him and think of the best way to cope with a fantastic player like he is.”
United announced last night that defender Chris Smalling has signed a new contract until June, 2022, with the option to extend for a further year.