Alexis Sanchez did not play for Arsenal and Man Utd are preparing for his transfer after what Jose Mourinho said at Burnley.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has promised a deal for Alexis Sanchez is 'so close' after Arsene Wenger claimed the Arsenal forward is 'driving north' to complete his transfer.
Sanchez was omitted from the Arsenal squad for their 4-1 Premier League win over Crystal Palace on Saturday as the 29-year-old prepares to finalise his protracted move to United.
Mourinho wanted to sign Sanchez in time for their trip to Burnley on Saturday but the Chile international remains an Arsenal player as United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward continues to work on a deal.
Anthony Martial struck the only goal in the second-half to give United a third successive Premier League win at Turf Moor and Mourinho was inevitably asked for an update on Sanchez after the game.
"I expect soon or never," Mourinho said. "I think is so close, so close, so close that if it doesn't happen it's not going to happen, so I am positive.
"I know my people is doing eveything they can, the owners with the green light, Mr Woodward working hard with Matt Judge and everybody is giving everything they can and I think they are going to be successful."
Wenger said after Arsenal beat Palace: "I didn't take him because there is question of him moving to Manchester United and you cannot drive up north and as well play football. That's difficult so that's why I decided to leave him out.
"I expect it to happen maybe but I cannot announce it because in the next 48 hours it will be decided one way or the other. In these king of things, as long as it's not over the line you cannot say it will happen because the negotiations become more and more longer and edgy because every detail becomes important nowadays.
"If you want to have a bet, it could happen.
When asked a about swap deal with Mkhitaryan, Wenger replied: "It happens only one way, if the other way happens as well, that's why it takes longer as well because it has to be co-ordinated."
United laboured for the majority of their 1-0 triumph over Burnley but Mourinho was satisfied how his players adapted against a physical side.
"It's a different kind pf performance to try to have but is a performance needed to get a result needed against a brave team like Burnley," Mourinho added. "We know the way they play, they are better than anyone playing that way, we had to adapt to be successful, we adapted well by the defensive point of view.
"We should have scored a second goal to kill it off and put ourselves in a position to fight until the last second, and the best image of it was with Pope in the box for the last couple of crosses and that's the image of how competitive the game was."