ManU Parades best squads in England – Antonio Conte

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte says Manchester United parade one of the best squads in England.

At Friday’s press conference ahead of the Monday FA Cup Quarter final game, Conte said: “I am preparing to face a great team on Monday. Along with Man City, Man United have the best squad.”

Conte, whose Chelsea team defeat United 4-0 in their Premier League clash earlier in the season and are currently 10 points ahead in the race for the Premier League title, added: “The most important thing in the build-up to a game like Monday’s is to prepare and focus on what will happen on the pitch.

“There are no injury problems with two training sessions to go to the Man United match.

“I am yet to decide the team I will select for the match.”

On his part, Jose Mourinho stated that his team will be at full strength when they face Chelsea.

After travelling to Russia for the first leg of their Europa League round 16 tie against Rostov, United will be on the road again for the Cup game against Chelsea.

Despite having to play two consecutive games away from home, Mourinho stated that United cannot afford to present a weak team against Chelsea.

Mourinho  said in Friday’s press conference, “We have three days and we have to travel.”

“We have to go to London. It’s really hard. We don’t have Zlatan, of course not, but we go with everything we have. We don’t put a [weakened] team out like some clubs sometimes – Manchester United cannot do that.

“We know this Europa League is very important for us, and the FA Cup is beautiful. We cannot go there with a [Reserve] team, we’ll try to manage it within our squad and get a good team to compete with them.

“Manchester United is Manchester United; it’s the winner of this competition. It’s not Chelsea’s fault we were given this Monday match. We’ll make changes, as we played on Thursday, but we cannot go to Chelsea with a [Reserve] team.”

Mourinho pointed out that United’s target is to remain in contention for the FA Cup, Europa League and a top four finish in the Premier League.

Holders United will travel to Stamford Bridge on Monday to face Chelsea in one of the quarter-finals of the Emirates FA Cup.

United will however be without Zlatan Ibrahimovic who will commence his three-match ban for violent conduct against Bournemouth’s Tyrone Mings.