Mourinho expects Mkhitaryan to face Chelsea

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho expects to have Henrikh Mkhitaryan available for the FA Cup quarter-final against Chelsea on March 13.

Mkhitaryan has been out of action since picking up a hamstring injury shortly after scoring the only goal in a Europa League last-32 second-leg win at Saint-Etienne last Wednesday.

The issue ruled the Armenia international out of the EFL Cup final victory over Southampton and will see him sit out upcoming matches against Bournemouth and – more likely than not – Rostov over the coming week.

But Mourinho is optimistic about the 28-year-old’s chances of featuring against Premier League leaders Chelsea.

“Mkhitaryan is still out,” Mourinho told MUTV. “He didn’t recover in time for this game [against Bournemouth].

“I believe, during the next week, especially for the weekend [ahead of the trip to Stamford Bridge], he will be fine and we don’t have major problems.

“Bastian [Schweinsteiger] has a little thing but, apart from that, everybody is fine.”

With close to a fully fit squad at his disposal, Mourinho is satisfied he has the numbers and quality to cope with a demanding schedule.

“I told them [the squad] already a player that is not even selected can start the next match and this is the reality,” he added. “We have to go match after match.

“If we decide not to give a priority to any competition, as we’ve said every competition is important, we cannot choose this team to play this match and that team to play that one.

“We have to go match after match and make readjustments and try to be as strong as possible.”