Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has eased fears over Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s ankle injury and believes the Armenia international will be fit to return for their Boxing Day fixture against Sunderland.
Mkhitaryan was forced off with five minutes remaining in United’s 1-0 win over Tottenham on Sunday after a heavy tackle with Danny Rose forced the winger off on a stretcher.
There were initial fears that the 27-year-old would face a long spell out on the sidelines after replays showed Rose’s full weight landing on Mkhitaryan’s ankle, but Mourinho is confident the creative midfielder, who scored the winner, will only miss their next two matches.
“It looks like the next match [at Crystal Palace] is a ‘no’, but it looks like it is nothing that is really dangerous or that needs Surgery,” Mourinho told MUTV after United secured successive wins in all competitions for the first time since September.
“So hopefully we will probably have Micki on Boxing day [against Sunderland at Old Trafford].”
Mkhitaryan’s injury comes at the worst time for the former Borussia Dortmund star, who has been forced to wait a long time to make his impact at Old Trafford following a high profile summer switch from the Bundesliga giants.
However, the Armenian had finally looked to have established himself as first-team regular under Mourinho in recent weeks, scoring in each of United’s last two competitive matches.
For more stats on Henrikh Mkhitaryan, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
