Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has launched a fresh attack on Antonio Conte and his Chelsea tactics.

Mourinho insists he would not resort to Chelsea's ways just to be crowned champions.

He said: “We know that if you look in a pragmatic way, you see the last winners of the Premier League, they did not play attacking football.

“They played defensive football and counter-attack football.

“So according to the results, that is the way to win the Premier League.

“We try to play positive, we try to play good but we try to win."

Conte played in a 3-4-3 formation to win the Premier League in his first season in England.

But Mourinho, 54, believes that can equally translate into seven at the back, with wing-backs and two defensive midfielders.

Speaking ahead of this evening's trip to Stoke, the United gaffer said: “If you ask me, are we going to go there and play with seven at the back, like some teams do, five plus two positional midfield players? No.

“We're going to try and play well and score goals.

“But if our opponent is better than us and dominant, we are humble enough to transform our way of playing to play for a result.

"If one day to win we have to play defensive football, we will.

“And if we go to Stoke and Stoke put us under pressure and are dominant, we have to be humble and pragmatic and we have to face the reality."