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Cape Town - Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho believes has started the mind-games early by claiming that Chelsea hold the advantage for their upcoming FA Cup sixth round tie because it is the only tournament they have to focus on.
Chelsea are not part of any European competition this season because of Mourinho's own failings at the club last season and currently hold an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League standings.
Mourinho believes the gap to second place is insurmountable at this stage of the season, meaning the FA Cup is the only tournament the Blues need to focus on for the remainder of the season.
On the other hand, United are still competing in the League Cup, Europa League and are outside the top four in the Premier League so still have a lot of work to do this season, which puts them at a big disadvantage against Chelsea, according to Mourinho.
"Probably Chelsea can only think about that (the FA Cup) because I think they are champions and they have nothing else to fight for," he told Sky Sports.
"The FA Cup is something I believe is important for them. I have to play St-Etienne (on Wednesday), I have to play the (League Cup) final, I have to play hopefully another opponent in the Europa League. I have to fight for a top four position in the Premier League. I have so many things to think about.
"The match is in one month's time. I don't want to be speaking about it."
United next face a trip to St-Etienne on Wednesday in the return leg of a round-of 32 Europa League tie with Mourinho's men holding a healthy 3 goal advantage thanks to a Zlatan Ibrahimovic hat-trick.
Kick off is at 19:30.
