Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has praised Fred and Nemanja Matic following Manchester United's defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League.
United fell to a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal on New Year's Day after goals from Nicolas Pepe and Sokratis Papastathopoulos secured Mikel Arteta his first win as manager.
United made three changes from their weekend win at Burnley with Andreas Pereira dropping out of the team to be replaced by Jesse Lingard in midfield.
Paul Pogba missed the game through injury while Scott McTominay remained sidelined following his recent setback, which meant Fred and Matic retained their place at the base of midfield.
Arsenal were superior for much of the match, however Solskjaer believes the midfield deserved credit for their performance on Wednesday night.
“He’s injured now," Solskjaer told BT Sport of Pogba.
"He will probably need an operation on his foot. Let’s see how long it takes for him to get back. Obviously it’s a big blow to us with Scott McTominay also out but I thought Fred and Nemanja (Matic) did well today."
United have a packed fixture schedule for the month ahead starting with a trip to face Wolves in the FA Cup at the weekend and speaking after the defeat Solskjaer admitted the prospect of signing new players was appealing.
He added: "Sometimes you think one or two additions would do nicely because we are building towards something, but it depends on whether those players for us are available.”
