Cape Town - Jose Mourinho has pledged to rest Manchester United’s key players for this weekend’s Premier League clash at Arsenal.
United secured the upper hand against Celta Vigo in their Europa League semi-final on Thursday after Marcus Rashford’s free-kick handed the visitors a 1-0 first leg win in Spain.
With United lying fifth in the Premier League table, winning the Europa League could now be the best chance of reaching the Champions League for Mourinho’s men.
Mourinho clearly has that in mind against Arsenal on Sunday after United’s stretched squad was further depleted when both Rashford and Ashley Young limped off.
"The players that have accumulated lots of minutes are not going to play next weekend," said Mourinho.
United were on top throughout the encounter, but it wasn’t until after the hour mark when they broke through Vigo’s resistance after Rashford’s superb strike.
Mourinho added: "He works every day. He loves it. Sometimes he stays behind after training to practise free-kicks.
"It was a great free-kick. The ball was moving really fast. The goalkeeper made a little movement but it was impossible to save."
United will be aiming to create some distance between themselves and Arsenal in the race for a top four position when the two sides meet on Sunday.
The action gets underway at 17:00.