Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has explained why Henrikh Mkhitaryan was not given an opportunity to play a part in Wednesday’s match in the Premier League.

The Red Devils just about managed to maintain their pursuit of league leaders Manchester City by beating Bournemouth at Old Trafford in a narrow 1-0 victory.

It was another match which saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan fail to make the 18-man squad as rumours continue to grow over the Armenian star’s uncertain future at the club.

The former Dortmund man has been omitted from the match-day squad in seven of United’s last eight fixtures but Mourinho insists the only reason Mkhitaryan was not involved on Wednesday is because he wanted to “have some balance on the bench”.

“I can only have six [outfield] players on the bench and I try to have some balance on the bench – I had two defenders and [Daley] Blind who can play in different areas. I had Ashley Young to cover me all of the wing and the wing-back position.” the United boss said

“I had [Ander] Herrera as a midfield player, Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] as a striker and Marcus [Rashford] as a second striker and winger. I played [Anthony] Martial, [Juan] Mata and [Jesse] Lingard in the team. To have Micki means that I don’t have one of them and, in this moment, I believe the other ones they deserve [the chance to play].”

William Prescott 
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has explained why Henrikh Mkhitaryan was not given an opportunity to play a part in Wednesday's match in the Premier League. The Red Devils just about managed to maintain their pursuit of league leaders Manchester City by beating Bournemouth at Old Trafford in a narrow...