Jose Mourinho: Phil Jones is playing with ankle injury

London, Aug 28: Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has suggested that in-form defender Phil Jones at the moment is playing through the pain barrier for the Red Devils, with as he is coping with an ankle problem.

The partnership of Jones and Eric Bailly in the heart of United defense has till now impressed everyone as United managed two back to back clean sheets. Jones has been selected ahead of England teammate Chris Smalling and new signing Victor Lindelof.

And speaking after the victory against Leicester City, Mourinho stated that Jones has everything the United manager loves in a defender however it is unfortunate that the 25-year-old has been facing consistent injury problems for which he needs regular care from the club’s medical department.

"He's potentially a very good player," Mourinho said. "He's still young. He's still in a learning age but for years and years and years he was injury-prone.

"He has a problem now. He's complaining about an ankle problem so he's the kind of player where we need to have him always in our hands with a lot of care from the medical department, from the fitness coach, from my assistants, in the gym, working always on prevention, on recovery.

"If we manage to have him safe and protected from injuries, I think potentially he's everything I like in a central defender."

Jones has been selected in England's squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovakia but he could now face a spell on the sidelines after the probable ankle problem.

United have enjoyed a perfect start to the new term, winning three from three, scoring 10 and not conceding a single goal in the way, but Mourinho claimed it can be challenging to replicate their current form when their Champions League test gets started on September 12 against Basel at Old Trafford.

“If I have one week to prepare a match, my team is always very good. It’s always very good because you have time to organise a week of work going through every item of the game,” Mourinho explained.

“When you start playing every two days, every three days, it’s more based on what you build during pre-season and what you build during these weeks that are not going to be repeated.

“From now, we have no more clean weeks. From now, every week has a midweek match until the moment we are out of one of the cups. So I think now my team is also the mirror of the work we are doing in clean weeks where we can train five days and go through every item of the game plan.”