Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho insists his decision to omit Henrikh Mkhitaryan from the squad against Newcastle United was based purely on form.

"The story is always the same. In some positions, when you don't have injuries, you have lots of options in other positions," Mourinho said.

"In this moment, we have Pogba, Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay.

"So I can imagine, next week, you are going to ask - why is this player not playing?

"Micki is not playing because we had lots of options for that match. I decided to play Marcus Rashford and Martial together.

"For many weeks, the question was - why do they not play together? Now, the question is why is Micki not playing.

"The answer is very simple - until the international board change the rules, I can only start with 11!"