MOURINHO STILL STICKING BY SANCHEZ

Jose Mourinho believes Alexis Sanchez will recover his form and fitness for Manchester United, but

insists he had no input into the Chile forward's decision to skip his country's upcoming friendly internationals.

Sanchez suffered an unspecified training injury that ruled him out of United’s disappointing defeat at Brighton two weeks ago.

And he was only fit enough for a cameo appearance off the bench in an even more demoralising 3-0 home loss to Tottenham on Monday as United plunged into an early season crisis.

Sanchez's decision not to go away with Chile has met with Mourinho’s approval, although the United manager denied Rueda’s claims that the club pressured him to do so.

"I didn’t ask and I never ask players not to go," said Mourinho.

"I never contact national teams for players not to go. It's a personal thing between him and the national manager.

"At the same time, coming from injury he feels that for him it is a much needed two weeks off.

"He is still in condition to play against Burnley but he feels that after that he needs two weeks to put himself in good shape.

However, Sanchez has so far struggled to match the hype or the heights he did with former club Arsenal.

The 29-year-old has scored just three times in 20 appearances for Mourinho, but his manager still has faith that he will return to show supporters his true ability.

"I hope so. I hope we can see it," said Mourinho. "He had a good pre-season, he had a good start to the season.

"Then he had a small injury that kept him out and then he came just one day before Tottenham, and he comes into the game with the result 2-0. Let’s see from now.

"He is committed, he is focused. He works hard. I believe he will improve.