Jose Mourinho now seems to be entirely focused on managing his squad from now until the Europa League final so as to avoid any new injuries. The Manchester United manager has confirmed that Daley Blind, who played the full 90 minutes in the 2-1 loss at White Hart Lane during the weekend, will not play a part when Manchester United visit the on Wednesday night St.Mary’s to take on Southampton. United gave up on the race for the top four prior to the game against Arsenal. They have since suffered back-to-back league defeats.

The results in the last two games against Southampton and Crystal Palace have now been rendered as meaningless following the loss against Tottenham. United are 7 points behind Manchester City, who occupy the final top four place, with just 2 matches left. Now with the club set to finish above Everton due to their 4-point advantage over the Merseyside outfit, who have played a game more, it appears that Jose Mourinho will be fielding weakened teams for this final two matches.

He said,

“The most important thing for us is no injuries, and some people having a proper rest. Blind had to play 90 minutes but the next match is for Blind to rest and we have to go like this step-by-step, rest people.”

The decision to concentrate only on the Europa League was forced upon Jose Mourinho, who has had to deal with a lot of injuries in the last few weeks. Marcos Rojo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Chris Smalling, Luke Shaw, and Ashley Young are the first-team regulars ruled out for the rest of the campaign. Furthermore, the energy level of the team has dropped significantly after being involved 2 games a week for almost the entire campaign.

The likes of Paul Pogba, Ander Herrera, and David de Gea are fast approaching the figure of 50 games this season. As a result, Jose Mourinho has to rest his key players in order to keep them fresh and fit for the upcoming Europa League final against Ajax on May 24.

The game against the Dutch outfit is the only opportunity for Manchester United to qualify for the Champions League group stages next season. Apart from the prestige of being involved in this competition, Manchester United are in desperate need of the same.