Jose Mourinho has joked he is now the 'Worst One' rather than the 'Special One' as football's "Einsteins" criticise and scrutinise a Manchester United side looking to avoid a third straight Premier League defeat.

Following Louis van Gaal’s frustrating reign, the Portuguese’s arrival brought an injection of excitement that has often been lacking at Old Trafford since Alex Ferguson’s retirement.

Community Shield glory and three successive league wins, coupled with some big-name acquisitions, naturally raised expectations, making the three straight losses that followed all the more of a shock.

United ended that run with a timely, if at times unconvincing, 3-1 midweek triumph in the League Cup at Northampton, after which Mourinho hit out at the critics who he dubbed “football Einsteins”.

The Portuguese took a similar approach ahead of Leicester’s visit, making light of the situation by referring to himself as “the worst manager in the history of football” when asked how hard it would be for Saturday’s opponents to retain the title.

"Not many teams during the Premier League history they could do that," Mourinho, who retained the title in 2006 with Chelsea, said.

“One of the teams was, of course, Man United, another one was some team managed (by) the worst manager in the history of football, but it’s really difficult.”

Mourinho opened the press conference by welcoming his “friends from the media” and insisted talk about United’s poor run had not irritated him, nor had allegations made in a new biography that include claims he wanted to “break” Arsene Wenger’s face.

“I am (not) upset with anything,” he said. “I am such a lucky guy that I cannot be upset with anything. I am upset with nothing.

“The only thing that upsets me a little bit is the kind of criticism to my players because my players are my players.

“I should protect them, I would love to protect them, and from you I can’t. It is something that is completely out of my control.

“That doesn’t upset me, just gives me a feeling that it’s hard. It’s like when you want to protect people and you can’t.

“I think it’s a feeling of frustration, but with me it’s fine and with the Einsteins it’s fine.

“The Einsteins need money to live. They can’t coach, they can’t sit on the bench, they can’t win matches.

“They can speak, they can write, they can criticise the work of other people, but I am a good man. I am good man of goodwill. I do lots of charity, I help so many people, so why not also feed the Einsteins? That’s fine.”

Another Premier League loss would give those “Einsteins” even more to write about.

Mourinho spoke of a title challenge this term — something he accepts was a "very risky approach" — but sit seventh after five matches, already lagging six points behind leader Manchester City ahead of Leicester's visit.

“They won the Premier League because some of the big teams were not good enough last season, but they won because they were very good and they are still very good,” he said of Claudio Ranieri’s men.

“I think they are a very easy team to analyse, a very easy team to understand.

“Their defensive process is clear, their attacking organisation is very easy to understand, too, but it is very difficult to cope with it.

“It is very difficult to keep a clean sheet against a team like Leicester and it is difficult to score goals against a team like Leicester.”

Anthony Martial joins Phil Jones on the sidelines for United, whose captain Wayne Rooney's place in the starting line-up is a point of contention.

Mourinho compared the skipper’s performances to United’s and underlined “we are a team”, although there have been times recently when he has criticised individuals.

Luke Shaw joined Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in being picked out for under-performing, seemingly going against the protection of his players he ranks so highly.

“The critique is part of the evolution,” he added. “The critique is part of the process, the critique helps people to learn how to cope with critics. It’s their life.”