Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho to rest four players for League Cup tie with Burton

Jose Mourinho will rest four first-choice players as Manchester United begin their defence of the League Cup against second-tier Burton Albion on Wednesday night.

David de Gea, Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly and Nemanja Matic were all granted two days off by Mourinho following Sunday’s 4-0 victory over Everton.

The United manager intends to rest players again if his side progresses past Nigel Clough’s Burton but he insists that he is taking the competition seriously, seven months after beating Southampton 3-2 at Wembley in last year’s final.

“I gave two days off to four players. Apart from that, everybody is selected,” he said. “Do you want to know the four? David De Gea, Antonio Valencia, Matic and Bailly.

“It's football, it's competition, we take it serious. Of course we're not playing David, Bailly, but if we go to the next round these guys probably play and I give rest to the others.”

With the likes of De Gea, Bailly and Matic rested, Sergio Romero, Chris Smalling and Michael Carrick could start against Burton having rarely featured so far this term.

Mourinho will, however, retain some members of the team that rallied late on to put four past Everton on Sunday.

“Our squad is good but we don't have 30 players,” he said. “We have what we have, and a couple of injuries now with [Paul] Pogba and [Axel] Tuanzebe, so we need some of the players that played today to play and we need some to be on the bench.

“I know the quality of the Championship and if we don't take the game seriously, we are going to lose.”