Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes his Manchester United side are finally fit enough to last the distance this season.
United out-ran Chelsea in their 4-0 win at Old Trafford to kick off their Premier League campaign, with Solskjaer having forced his players to up their fitness levels over the summer after a chance in approach.
"There's a big shift in difference from the teams," said Solskjaer.
"Chelsea out-ran us quite a lot in April, now we've outran them, so that's a good shift for us.
"But it's not just about fitness. Fitness is important, but with a young team you expect loads of energy, but we also have quality.
"It's a big period still for us, is still more or less pre-season.
"We've got a couple more weeks after this that we can put loads of work in on the training round, because after international week it's too busy.
"We've had a great weeks in training, the mood has been good and it's been competitive.
"There were some players not involved in the last game and they want to prove a point."
Solskjaer also declared Alexis Sanchez still has a future at Manchester United despite rumours linking him with an exit before the European transfer window closes.
"Alexis is such a pro and he comes in working every single day really hard and wants to be a part of this," said Solskjaer.
"It's these stories that he's been put in the reserves - of course he hasn't, he's had three weeks now, he's a few weeks behind the rest but close to being ready.
"We don't have the biggest forward line in numbers, so Alexis might end up playing a lot more games than you expect, we expect him to come good at this club, he's quality.
"We've had a behind closed doors game, he's training, a little bit of extras, he'll be gradually integrated into more playing time, but we'll have more behind closed doors games and one game a week it's hard to keep players ticking."
