Henrikh Mkhitaryan is set to miss Saturday’s Manchester derby after picking up a thigh injury while on international duty with Armenia on Wednesday.
Mkhitaryan, Armenia’s captain and record scorer, was replaced after 38 minutes of the 3-0 friendly defeat against the Czech Republic after an off-the-ball collision with Marek Suchy. Tests later revealed muscle damage in his left thigh. While initial fears over the severity of the injury were allayed, the expected recovery period of 10 days rules him out of today’s World Cup qualifier against Denmark in Copenhagen, and, almost certainly, the Manchester City match.
The 27-year-old returned to Manchester on Saturday to be assessed by United’s medical staff at Carrington. While he is yet to start for United since moving to Old Trafford from Borussia Dortmund on a four-year deal this summer, he has impressed in three substitute appearances in the Premier League.
The 2015-16 Bundesliga Player of the Year tweeted on Saturday: “My dear fans, I appreciate much that you worry about me… I’m now back in Manchester for treatment and hope to be fit very soon.”
Suchy, the Czech Republic’s captain, denied any culpability for the incident, telling Sky: “It was not some really hard challenge, he was a fast player and I was just standing there. We just hit each other. I hope he will be OK and it will not be so hard for him and he will not miss too many days. This is football. I will not think about it much more.”
While Mkhitaryan will be unable to lead his team at the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign, Suchy is ready to assume the armband once held by Petr Cech when the Czechs face Northern Ireland in Prague on Sunday.
Both sides went to the European Championship this summer but this weekend’s hosts have undergone more change than their visitors, with their most capped player, Cech, retiring and his former Arsenal colleague Tomas Rosicky missing from this squad while he considers his future. They have a new coach, too, having failed to make it out of the group in France and Karel Jarolim has already pinpointed what he believes to be Northern Ireland’s assets.
“They are dangerous at set pieces and the centre-backs are great,” he said. “And 70% of their goals come from headers so it is clear they rely on that. We really have to be careful.”
