Ruben Amorim has dropped a massive hint with regard to his Manchester United team selection against Chelsea.
The Red Devils are the visitors to Stamford Bridge for a Premier League fixture that ultimately means more to the hosts as they are chasing Champions League qualification.
Meanwhile, this game falls five days before Man Utd take on Tottenham in the Europa League final.
Such is the importance of the showdown in Bilbao, there have been suggestions that both Amorim and Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou will name weakened teams against Chelsea and Aston Villa respectively.
However, Amorim has rejected that idea by stating it would be a “bad thing” if his players spend over a week without a game.
He said: “If there is a player that can get an injury [and is] not recovered for this game so [it] will put him in risk for the final, he will not play.
“But if it’s not that situation, we will have a lot of time to recover, and we cannot spend eight days, nine days without a game.
“That is a bad thing for the final so I think they will be prepared for the game.
“The best thing to prepare the final is to play the game. The players have to understand that if you play or don’t play against Chelsea, it means nothing to the final, that is important.
“I’m just preparing the game of Chelsea, that is my focus. We want to win and we want to perform.”
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Amorim will be without as many as six first-team players in west London after Diogo Dalot, Matthijs de Ligt, Ayden Heaven and Leny Yoro were ruled out along with long-term injury casualties Lisandro Martinez and Joshua Zirkzee.
The hope is the aforementioned quartet will be available against Spurs, but the Man United boss thinks the Chelsea game will provide players with a chance to stake a claim to start the final.
He added: “Like I said to you, I don’t know [my XI for the final yet]. I know the starting XI I am thinking for Chelsea, then I will see.
“Even the way we play there, against Chelsea, I will see it and it’s going to be important for the next one.”
