Mourinho may feel less charitable when it comes to selecting his team for the visit of Sean Dyche's Clarets, although injuries will limit the Portuguese's options

Eric Bailly is a long-term absentee while Michael Carrick, Antonio Valencia and Marouane Fellaini have been ruled out of the holiday games.

Matteo Darmian missed the Leicester match, while centerback Chris Smalling was hampered by a late injury.

At least United has history on their side in the Boxing Day clash, having not lost at home to Burnley since September 1962, a sequence of eight wins and five draws.

And United's run of 19 wins from the 23 Boxing Day games it has played in the Premier League era is a record for the division.

Burnley will be looking to respond to last weekend's 3-0 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur, but will be without in-form defender James Tarkowski, who serves the second game of a three-match ban.

But Clarets manager Dyche has every reason to be pleased with the first half of the season as his team visits Old Trafford just three points from the Champions League places.

"We've got good points on the table," he said. "Whichever team we put out there, we've always been competitive.

"That's the key, even going into these games, which are tough games.

"The key is to be competitive. As long as we're doing that, and we perform, over a longer period, we'll get results. That's what we've done over the season.

"We'll have to continue to do that. It's probably the first time we've been stretched this season. Adding a suspension does stretch it, but I've great faith in the players."

Agence France - presse