Manchester United's poor start has not come as a surprise to Jose Mourinho, who knew it would be a difficult campaign for the Red Devils before their Premier League season got underway.

United are already playing catch-up in the Premier League following back-to-back defeats after suffering a demoralising 3-0 loss at home to Tottenham.

United manager Mourinho is under increasing pressure having lost twice in three matches as they prepare to travel to Burnley on Sunday.

However, Mourinho – who has cut a frustrated figure after United's failure to meet his transfer demands having only signed Fred, Diogo Dalot and reserve goalkeeper Lee Grant – predicted his team would find it tough this term.

"I said that in the summer before the competition started," said Mourinho. "It's not especially now. Two defeats are two defeats. We still have 35 matches to play. It's not because we lost six points that this is going to change.

"I knew this was going to be difficult because I knew that last season was going to be very, very difficult."

Asked about a realistic target, Mourinho said: "Win at Burnley. Then win against Watford. That is the target we have.

"We have matches to play every week and the target is always to win. We know that in the Champions League, we have to play the biggest candidate in Juventus.

"They were always a big candidate but they transformed themselves into the biggest candidate.

"They don't hide the fact their investment made was really to win the Champions League. But even against that big team, we are going to try to win.

"Last season we had a fantastic start and we won the first three matches. We got nine points from three matches, scoring 10 goals.

"Then we lost a couple of matches. Maybe this time we started with two defeats and who knows if we will have a good run that gives us consecutive victories and consecutive points."