Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has admitted he can't find room for misfiring star Henrikh Mkhitaryan on his squad.
Manchester United returned to winning ways as Romelu Lukaku scored the only goal against Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Wednesday, three days on from their 2-1 derby defeat to Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Armenia playmaker Mkhitaryan was left on the sidelines for those two matches, having also sat out games versus Newcastle United, Basel, Watford, Arsenal and CSKA Moscow over the past month.
Mkhitaryan was a fixture in the first team earlier this season but Mourinho accused the former Borussia Dortmund star of "disappearing" during games.
"I can only have six [outfield] players on the bench and I try to have some balance on the bench," Mourinho offered in a more measured assessment after the Bournemouth match.
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"I had two defenders and [Daley] Blind who can play in different areas. I had Ashley Young to cover me all the wings and the wing-back position.
"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 Mkhi means that I don't have one of them and, in this moment, I believe the other ones they deserve [the chance to play]."
Manchester United are set to face West Brom on Saturday.
