Lukaku’s big-game drought puzzles Mourinho

Ian Watson

Jose Mourinho insists he is not worried over Romelu Lukaku’s struggle to score against Manchester United’s main rivals in the Premier League.

Last weekend’s match-winning FA Cup double at Huddersfield was impressive, yet his inability to score in any of his six matches against current top-six sides this season fuels long-standing questions about the striker.

Lukaku has failed to score in all 17 Premier League games involving Sunday’s opponents – including 10 league appearances made in a Chelsea shirt – but Mourinho is unconcerned.

“I don’t know (why he has not scored against top-six sides) but I’m not worried,” Mourinho said.

“Twenty-one goals is not bad at all and 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 even when he doesn’t score goals.”

Lukaku had looked set to re-join Chelsea in the summer, only for United to swoop in to sign him from Everton at the start of their pre-season tour to America.

That training camp in Los Angeles feels just like yesterday for Mourinho, but the United boss is ready for the pressure and fixtures to pile up.

“Time flies,” Mourinho told MUTV. “It feels like two days ago that we were in Los Angeles for pre-season and now we’re almost in March.

“March, April and May can be really busy and going far in the FA Cup creates you problems.

“We now play Brighton when we were supposed to play West Ham and we don’t know when we’ll play West Ham.

“If we play the semi-final of the FA Cup, I don’t know when that will be so it can be really busy and complicated.”