Jose Mourinho Delivers Key Update on Matic Fitness Ahead of Arsenal Clash & Rules Out Defensive Pair

Jose Mourinho was unable to give assurances over Nemanja Matic's chances as it relates to playing against Arsenal on Saturday, but told reporters that the

Jose Mourinho was unable to give assurances over Nemanja Matic's chances as it relates to playing against Arsenal on Saturday, but told reporters that the Serbian will be travelling to London with the rest of the squad.

Matic suffered a muscular injury while playing against Watford on Tuesday, and had to be taken off nine minutes into the second half. 

Jose Mourinho has told #MUTV he doesn’t know if Nemanja Matic can play against Arsenal, but the Serbian will travel with the #MUFC squad for Saturday's game. pic.twitter.com/Dm2mpTaumy

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 1, 2017

The manager is remaining hopeful, but up to the point of his press conference, he could not guarantee that Matic would be fit enough to play.

“I don’t know if he can play," Mourinho admitted. "He’s travelling with the team, he’s going to try and hopefully he can, but I cannot guarantee he is ready.”

Marouane Fellaini (muscular), Eric Bailly (groin/hip), Phil Jones (thigh) and Michael Carrick (heart condition) are also missing for the match.

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Mourinho also asked that his players simply focus on the match ahead and not the gap between the two teams.

“I play a game at a time, I play a game at a time and is the way to do it, is the way to do it," he declared. 

"Yesterday I was watching an interesting movie, Borg vs McEnroe and Borg coach was telling him that all the time, one point at a time, think about just one point and I tell my players just think about the game. 

"Is just the game, is Arsenal, we don’t think about how many points behind, is just Arsenal, is difficult enough for us to be focused on other things. Focus on this.”