Marcelo Bielsa has spoken with the media ahead of his side beginning their Premier League campaign this weekend. 

The Whites will travel to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United on the opening day, a fixture full of excitement as fans can return to watch the two teams. 

Bielsa began by giving a fitness update his squad.  

He said: “Junior Firpo is available and Diego Llorente isn’t.

“Jamie Shackleton has recovered well and he is available. The group of players I have, I am happy with.

“Kalvin [Phillips] has done a different type of work, a more brief one. 

“The preparation time he had was half of that of his teammates, but he’s done this in a very serious manner with a lot of dedication and he’s in conditions to have options to participate.” 

Ahead of the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday, Bielsa was asked whether facing Manchester United was the perfect fixture to begin the season with, and what his side has learnt from the defeat there last season.  

He explained: “I don’t consider it significant. A game like the one on the weekend is independent, it doesn’t really matter when it is played, it has a life of its own at any time.

“We tried to convert the experiences [from last season] into conclusions. 

“The natural thing is that in certain games and certain moments, and the player tries to incorporate experiences and decisions that are the adequate ones. 

“Every game in the Premier League is complicated.”

Finally, Bielsa gave a summary of the work the team has been doing during pre-season, as they get their sharpness back for the matches beginning. 

He said: “Given that this is the fourth year, the method that we use to work generates tiredness. 

“If you do similar things for a long time it is natural you get bored of it, in this pre-season we try to substitute all the exercises, the way in which we transmit them, the way we demonstrate how we do them so that there is some sort of novelty or evolution in the resources that we use.  

“The objective is always the same, to try to make better what we think should be done.”