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Mourinho: Mkhitaryan only out for a week

Cape Town - Manchester United would have been very anxious after Henrikh Mkhitaryan seemed to suffer a serious injury in their side’s 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. 

Mkhitaryan, who scored his first Premier League goal in the match, was brought down by Danny Rose in the 81st minute and had to be stretchered off. 

However, manager Jose Mourinho has calmed fears, saying that the midfielder should only be out of action for a week. 

"We don't think it's a serious injury," Mourinho told the BBC. "We don't think maybe Henrikh can play for a week. I was afraid it was serious but looks like it's not. He does not need surgery.

"Maximum a couple of weeks. It doesn't look like something that is very dangerous or difficult. He brings everything I want an attacker to play. Maybe one week out and it is better to be fresh for Boxing Day."

Mourinho admitted that he was delighted to have come out on top, especially as it keeps his side’s hopes of finishing in the top four alive. 

"We still have our ambitions this year," he said. "To win this match puts us in a position where we can feel them. We can be in touch.

"Fourth and fifth, we can feel them with so many matches to go. So we can say that this result was very important for that. We were six points behind Tottenham so, if we'd lost today, it would have been nine -- and nine is more difficult than three."

After four successive draws at Old Trafford, the Portuguese tactician added that it felt good to finally snap the winless streak on home soil. 

"After so many months of playing well and not winning, we needed more the points than performance," he said. "But, against a team like Tottenham, you don't get the result without a performance.

"We played very well. Tottenham for me are a very complete team who defend well and attack well so, to win against them, we needed to play very well, which we did."

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