Chelsea sit clear at the top of the Premier League by five points, with Louis van Gaal's team trailing the Blues by 10 points after just eight games.
The absence of Loic Remy and uncertainty over Diego Costa have raised speculation over whether the Portuguese coach will repeat the striker-less formation of August 2013, when Chelsea played out a dull 0-0 draw at Old Trafford.
However, Mourinho denied his team were negative in that game, and said they head to Old Trafford full of confidence.
"It's no different. We go to every match to win but sometimes games go in one direction where in pragmatic way you feel one point becomes good result," he told his prematch news conference on Friday.
"[On] Sunday we go to win. If you give me now one point without me going, I won't accept that. I want to fight for three points. But sometimes during a game a point is a positive result."
He said the 0-0 draw last year had been "very difficult for both teams to win" and added: "Both accepted the point as a normal result, but I don't think, in this moment, that from first minute we will go for a point. Maybe [I will] think differently in 90th minute but before it starts we are going to [try to] win.
"We [will] try to play as good as we're playing and trying to play, respecting one of best and most difficult opponents in the Premier League. But we're confident and in a good moment and situation. There's no reason for us to change our feeling. We play a big team, yes, but we're in a good moment and going to discuss the points and try the best result."
Mourinho meets his old mentor Van Gaal for only the second time in his career, but was reluctant to talk about a temporary rival too effusively.
"I think it's not [the] moment to talk about what might have happened without him," he continued. "I have never hidden the respect and relation and his influence. But this is my opponent. Don't make me speak good about him for half an hour.
"I'm not going to speak more about it. He knows what I feel about him. The world knows, because I never hide. What can I add? Nothing to add?"
Mourinho insists Sunday's battle will not be about the coaches, but their respective sides, adding: "Man United is Man United. For me it doesn't matter the manager, the moment, the table, the players. Man United is Man United and I always look at them independent of these factors.
"We [Mourinho and Van Gaal] played some friendlies, but yes. We were never in the same league. In Champions League you depend on draws and happened only once. That's not important. What's important is that I don't play against Louis Van Gaal. It's Chelsea against Man United. During the match I have no time and he has no time to look around and see who opposing manager is. Before and after he's one of my big friends and I will always be happy to see him."
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