Jose Mourinho wants to see how Manchester United react to more 'difficult moments'

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Jose Mourinho is eager to see how his Manchester United players react to more “difficult moments” following their excellent start to the new Premier League season.

The league leaders are the only top-flight outfit to have taken maximum points from their first three fixtures, yet they had to work hard for their 2-0 victory over Leicester City last time out.

Mourinho was delighted by his side’s refusal to settle for a point despite Romelu Lukaku missing a penalty and the deadlock lasting until the 70th minute.

The Portuguese is now confident that his side can come through further tests given their character and the atmosphere within the squad.

“Every match is a match, every match has a different story, is unpredictable. We don’t know what can happen,” Mourinho said.

“I was saying a few weeks ago let’s see what we do in a difficult moment. I think a difficult moment was 0-0, miss a penalty with 30 minutes to play. It was difficult moment. Our reaction was good.

“A difficult moment will be losing, will be playing with 10 men, we are going to have difficult moments. Let’s see how we cope. My feeling is the squad is strong, the players are strong, united, the atmosphere is very good, very positive.”

Having enjoyed a week between each of their opening Premier League fixtures in August, Mourinho’s players now face a gruelling schedule of two games a week until the winter, with only October and November’s international breaks offering respite.

Mourinho lamented the lack of “clean weeks” after the win over Leicester but even so, he believes he has the resources to compete both domestically and on the continent, as United prepare to return to European football’s premier club competition.

“We don’t fear any challenge but we know Premier League, Champions League, let’s forget a bit the League Cup, the next two matches is where the quality, is where the difficulties are.”