Jose Mourinho admits he was "scared" when he watched Danny Rose's tackle on Henrikh Mkhitaryan , which has sidelined the Manchester United playmaker for at least two games.
Mkhitaryan was stretchered off and has damaged his ankle, although Mourinho insists it is not serious.
The United boss hopes the Armenian star, who netted the winner against Tottenham yesterday, will be back for the Boxing Day clash with Sunderland at Old Trafford.
"Hopefully he can play at Christmas, we believe it's possible," he said. "When I saw him on the stretcher, I thought it would be more difficult.
"When I watched the tackle on TV, I was a bit scared, but no.
"It's a pity because he's going to miss matches in his best period, but at least we don't lose a player for so long."
Mourinho praised Mkhitaryan for knuckling down and not moaning during his early days at Manchester when games time were so difficult to come by.
"I have had players with a similar adaptation process," he said. "But we bought him, he was not a player chosen by other people.
"We bought him because I asked the club to do it because I liked the player, I analysed the player so it would be more frustrating for me if everything went wrong.
"But he needed the period of adaptation at every level and in that period he was a great professional because maybe another guy in this position would find excuses.
"He would blame the manager, he would blame the pitch, he would blame the weather, he would blame something, like many of the players now do.
"He was quiet, he closed his mouth, worked really hard waiting for this opportunity and is playing so well now.
"But hopefully it's not a few matches out that are going to stop his evolution."
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