Jose Mourinho: Top four impossible for Man Utd after Arsenal defeat

Jose Mourinho says a top-four finish for Manchester United is "impossible" after their 2-0 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday.

Granit Xhaka's deflected strike and Danny Welbeck's header saw United suffer their first Premier League defeat since October 23.

The loss leaves United four points outside the top four with three games left to play, and their best chance of qualifying for the Champions League appears to now be winning the Europa League.

They lead Celta Vigo 1-0 heading into the second leg of their semi-final on Thursday.

"It's impossible to finish in the top four," said Mourinho. "I don't think other teams playing one match per week, and being in a great situation, will lose.

"And we go with everything on Thursday and we cannot go with everything against Tottenham. Then two days later we play Southampton, then two days after that we play Crystal Palace, and that is too much.

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"We have to chase the Champions League by winning the Europa League."

Having played against Celta Vigo in Spain on Thursday, Mourinho made eight changes for the defeat at the Emirates, with Axel Tuanzebe making his first Premier League start at right-back.

"The players' mentality has been fantastic," said Mourinho. "They fought hard and played well. I am in a position where instead of making changes to improve my team I am making changes to give people rest.

"They played well and it's very good. Now they have this 90 minutes in their legs and they are ready to play on Thursday."

The Manchester United manager also said he did not think his side "deserved to lose".

"I am very happy with the players, they surprised me in a positive way," he added. "I was really afraid that [Phil] Jones, [Chris] Smalling and [Juan] Mata could not cope with 90 minutes because they have been injured, but they did.

"The kid [Tuanzebe] was brilliant. Mkhi [Henrikh Mkhitaryan], [Matteo] Darmian, [Ander] Herrera, tried their best, even though they played 90 minutes two days ago. The team was much better today than against Man City. Arsenal defended, coped with our attacking football, and they did well to keep the advantage."

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