Jose Mourinho has overseen a drastic reduction in Manchester United’s injury problems as part of a concerted drive to tackle a long-standing headache that blighted previous managerial regimes at Old Trafford.

When the United manager and his staff took over last May, they identified the club’s dire injury record over the previous five seasons as an area of significant concern. They felt that it could impinge on their chances of success and set about making the changes they believed were imperative to curb the problem.

Eight months into the job, their impact is already being felt. According to data seen by The Daily Telegraph, United were averaging a total of 41.6 injuries by this stage of the season in the previous five campaigns, which resulted in players losing a total average of 1,099.2 days to injury.

By contrast, United have sustained 31 injuries this term under Mourinho and lost just 461 days in total. Tellingly, United had lost almost three times as many days to injury by Jan 23 under Van Gaal last season compared to Mourinho at the same stage this time around.