Jose Mourinho has left the likes of Michael Carrick, Antonio Valencia and Matteo Darmian out of Manchester United’s Europa League tie at Zorya Luhansk in order to “protect” them ahead of Tottenham’s visit to Old Trafford on Sunday.

Mourinho's men are looking to extend their Europa League campaign into the spring, which they will do if they draw their final Group A game in Odessa on Thursday.

If Feyenoord fail to win against Fenerbahce, then United would even progress with defeat in Ukraine, where their 19-man squad arrived on Wednesday afternoon without Carrick, Valencia and Darmian – all three of whom started against Everton on Sunday.

"The players I had to leave out to protect," Mourinho said. "I left them in Manchester. The ones I brought, I brought them to play and not to protect."

Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin have also been overlooked by the United coach.

The two have barely featured since the Portuguese's summer arrival and have been strongly linked with an exit next month.

Paul Pogba, Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have all travelled to Odessa for Thursday night’s clash but despite the strength of his squad, Mourinho expects a tough challenge on his hands.

United clinched a 1-0 victory over Zorya last month but had to wait until the 69th minute of the game to find the back of the net at Old Trafford. The side held onto their lead for the final 20 minutes of the game to take all three points.

"The first game was difficult for us but it was also very difficult for Zorya and I think tomorrow is more of the same," Mourinho added. "Difficult for us and also difficult for them. We know it's a crucial match for us so if we lose a match we can be out and we don't want to be out, we want to go on.

"Zorya is out but they have a match to play and I believe they are going to try and win the match as well."

Mourinho also skirted the topic of United's dismal away record in Europe, which has seen just one win in the last three years.

Michael Carrick has been left out of Mourinho's travelling squad (Getty)

"I only can speak by myself, I can only speak in my matches and we lost Feyenoord, a game that we should win," Mourinho stressed.

"The team played well, the team had the game in control and when the team was pushing to win and in Fenerbahce, another difficult place to go, we concede a goal in the first minute.

"But I agree that it is the reality if you want to qualify you cannot lose three matches, so that's why we need a point tomorrow."