Manchester United ask Armenia not to play Henrikh Mkhitaryan in World Cup qualifiers

Manchester United have asked the Armenian Football Federation (FFA) to allow midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan to miss the World Cup qualifiers against Romania and Poland in order to complete his recovery from a thigh injury.

The Armenia captain, who missed United's 1-1 Premier League draw with Stoke City on Sunday, is unlikely to feature in the matches against Romania on Saturday and Poland next week because of the injury, the FFA said on Monday.

"Henrikh is still undergoing late stage rehabilitation from the left thigh muscle injury that he sustained earlier this month whilst playing for Manchester United," Steve McNally, United's head of medicine, said in a statement to the FFA (www.ffa.am).

"In view of that I would be grateful if he could be allowed to withdraw from the National Team for the forthcoming training camp and FIFA World Cup Qualifying matches in order to remain in Manchester to complete his rehabilitation."

Armenia are at the bottom of their World Cup qualifying group after losing to Denmark last month.