Man Utd injury news: Key playmaker set to return vs Chelsea in FA Cup showdown

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Man Utd are reportedly expecting Henrikh Mkhitaryan to recover from his hamstring injury and feature against Chelsea in the FA Cup at the weekend.

The Armenian international picked up the problem in the second leg of United’s Europa League tie with Saint-Etienne last month, and subsequently was forced to miss the EFL Cup final as well as the weekend’s disappointing draw with Bournemouth.

Jose Mourinho has spoken about his fitness, and while the Portuguese tactician is unlikely to risk him in Europe against FC Rostov on Thursday, it’s likely that Mkhitaryan returns against Chelsea to give his side a huge boost as they look to keep their hopes of more silverware this season alive.

“Mkhitaryan is still out,” Mourinho told MUTV, as quoted by The Mirror.

“He didn’t recover in time for this game. I believe, during the next week, especially for the weekend [Chelsea Cup tie], he will be fine and we don’t have major problems.

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

Mkhitaryan has grown into an important player for United since his summer arrival at Old Trafford, as he had to overcome a slow and difficult start to life with the club initially.

With six goals and five assists in 23 appearances, he hasn’t quite yet hit the heights expected of him, but he’ll be desperate to get back fit and back in the team to add to those tallies.

As seen in the draw at Bournemouth, although United had their chances and came up against an inspired Artur Boruc, having the 28-year-old’s creativity and class in the final third may well have helped unlock their opponents and so the sooner the better he returns for supporters.

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