Henrikh Mkhitaryan faces weeks rather than months on the sidelines with an ankle injury.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan left the field on a stretcher after scoring in Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur, but Jose Mourinho has, thankfully, played down the severity of the injury.

The Armenian beat Hugo Lloris with a superb effort to register his first-ever Old Trafford goal, just days after netting his maiden Reds strike in the Europa League win at Zorya Luhansk. His match ended with disappointment, though, when he suffered an injury following a challenge by Danny Rose on 81 minutes. 

The England international was booked and Mkhitaryan was carried off to a standing ovation from the appreciative United fans. After the final whistle, his manager Jose Mourinho gave a positive update on the summer signing when talking to .

“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,” the manager told Stewart Gardner. “So hopefully we will probably have Micki on Boxing Day [against Sunderland at Old Trafford].”

The early assessment would also mean Mkhitaryan missing next Saturday’s trip to West Brom.