The Red Devils bounced back from their derby-day defeat at the weekend by wrapping up a 1-0 win at Old Trafford.

Romeu Lukaku’s 14th goal of the season was all that separated United and Eddie Howe’s men.

But one notable absentee was midfielder Mkhitaryan, who was not even offered a place on the bench.

This has led to speculation that the Armenian has fallen out with the United boss and could be looking for a move away in January.

And Mourinho did little to quell the rumours by saying that he has fallen way down the pecking order.

“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,” Mourinho said.

“I had Ashley Young to cover me all of the wing 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 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].”

Mkhitaryan will be hoping to return to the squad when United travel to West Brom on Sunday (2.15pm).