MANCHESTER -- Jose Mourinho has said Nemanja Matic is a doubt for Manchester United's trip to Arsenal this weekend while Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and Marouane Fellaini have all been ruled out.
United head to the Emirates for the Saturday evening kick-off looking to close the eight-point gap to Manchester City at the top of the table.
Should United lose, and City beat West Ham at the Etihad Stadium, Mourinho's team will head into next weekend's derby at Old Trafford 11 points adrift.
Mourinho will be without Jones and Bailly against Arsenal while Nemanja Matic will travel but remains a doubt after limping off against Watford
Fellaini, who has a knee injury, will not feature.
Mourinho told a news conference on Friday: "Matic is a doubt. I hope he can but I cannot guarantee he is selected to go. Let's see the feeling before the match, let's see the warm up.
"I hope he can, I want to, he wants to, but I cannot guarantee, and Fellaini is not travelling with the team."
Mourinho has not won away at a top-six rival since Chelsea's 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Anfield in November 2014.
United were beaten at Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal in the league last season and drew with Liverpool and Manchester City.
They have not won at the Emirates Stadium since November 2014.
Arsene Wenger's side, meanwhile, head into the game on the back of 12 Premier League home wins in a row.
Mourinho, though, has promised to attack Arsene Wenger's team.
He said: "When we have the ball we are going to attack with 11 players because the goalkeeper knows what to do when we have the ball and when Arsenal have the ball we will defend with 11.
"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.
"Yesterday, I was watching an interesting movie, 'Borg vs. McEnroe,' and Borg's 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, it 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."