José Mourinho says United will get back to top four soon

José Mourinho believes Manchester United will soon be in the top four and once there they can consider challenging for the title.

United are in eighth place with 17 points, five behind Arsenal, who are in fourth, after 10 games. Mourinho is confident his United side can bridge this gap and then assess if a tilt at a 21st championship is possible.

He said: “When you are outside the top four I don’t think you should speak about the title. When you are there, which we are going to be, you can look up, see the distance, look to the fixtures, to the calendar, you can look to the situation at that moment – also the injuries, suspension, form and then you can feel it.

“But in this moment we are outside the top four so the point is now to get the points we need to try and be in the end of December in a better position than we are in now at this moment. I think we will be in a better position.”

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Mourinho pointed to the schedule as a factor in United’s low position. “The reality is that the way the fixtures are coming sometimes they have an influence [at a particular] moment,” said the Portuguese. “We had two fixtures away – against Burnley and Watford - now we have the same – Bournemouth [Saturday] and Manchester City. We will have Juventus [in the Champions League] away before Manchester City, we will have Valencia away before Liverpool.

“In this part of the season we play away against possibly the three biggest candidates for the title – Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City – so the calendar was not nice to us. But by the end of December, which is the end of the first half of the Premier League, we are not going to be in the position we are now, will be a better position.”

Antonio Valencia has a knee problem and is unavailable for Bournemouth. – Guardian service