Jose Mourinho trusts Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial against Brighton

Romelu Lukaku won’t be fit for Manchester United’s game against Brighton and Hove Albion tonight. That doesn’t really matter too much. Brighton are staying up, and United are almost certain of taking second place in the league. Having said that, Jose Mourinho has used the opportunity to express his faith in strikers Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, both of whom have been linked with moves away from Old Trafford. Rashford is perhaps the superior player, but neither of them have earned the right to play through the middle. In truth they are just too slight to lead a Mourinho team’s attack, and there’s not much anyone can go about that.

Dwight Yorke has said that Pep Guardiola would probably have led Manchester United to the title had he been the manager. It’s not clear how he would have dealt with having clowns like Phil Jones and Chris Smalling in defence, and his own central defensive purchases have been pretty poor too, but it would have been a flipsight more entertaining than some of the stuff Mourinho has served up over the last two years.

Mourinho has explained Eric Bailly’s recent absence from the side, saying he is giving preference to players who are going to the World Cup, and as Bailly isn’t going, he merits a place less. If true, it’s a weird justification when there’s a FA Cup final to be ready for. If a lie, it’s an unconvincing one.

Mourinho has also said that his current assistant Rui Faria would be, ‘a good fit,’ to replace Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. That’s true, because like Wenger, Faria has never managed a side to a Europen title either. There’s no hint Faria is tempted, nor that the Arsenal board want to wind up their fans even more than they have done over the last decade.

And nothing to do with Manchester United, but the world’s greatest city’s team is going to the Europa League final.