LONDON, United Kingdom, Feb 24 – Jose Mourinho has brushed off any concerns about Romelu Lukaku’s scoring record against the Premier League’s heavyweights.
Lukaku has netted 21 goals in all competitions for Manchester United this season, but none of those has come against any of the top eight teams in the Premier League.
It was a criticism levelled against the Belgian international during his Everton and West Brom days, with only 15 of his 85 league goals coming against Man United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal or Spurs.
However, Mourinho has been pleased with Lukaku’s form after his £75million summer move from Everton and is not concerned by the statistics.
Mourinho said: “I’m not worried – 21 goals is not bad at all. I don’t measure the players’ performances the same way you do.
“I have other points of analysis and I’m happy with Romelu’s performance when he doesn’t score goals.”
United meet Chelsea on Sunday, with Mourinho adamant that the visit of his former club is an important match for Champions League qualification, even if the title isn’t on the line.
“For the past 10-15 years, Manchester United and Chelsea, big matches, and this is one more but different circumstances because many times they were matches for the title,” he added.
“This time I think we have both, us and them, to agree that’s not the case. But we play both for top-four and it’s a big game independent of what is at stake.”