Manchester United have several injury worries ahead of their Premier League match at Aston Villa tomorrow. Dimitar Berbatov and Wes Brown are both definitely out, Rio Ferdinand is unlikely to play and Wayne Rooney is also a doubt after missing England's friendly in Germany on Wednesday.
Berbatov picked up a hamstring injury on international duty with Bulgaria this week, limping off during their game with Serbia. Scans revealed he has not suffered a muscle tear, but he will miss tomorrow's match, Tuesday's Champions League fixture at Villarreal and possibly next weekend's derby with City.
Brown will be out for several weeks after undergoing exploratory surgery on his ongoing ankle problem, and fellow defender Ferdinand is unlikely to feature at Villa Park because of a back injury. "Rio is very doubtful for tomorrow, I don't think he'll make it," Sir Alex Ferguson said today. "Rooney has a good chance, he trained on Wednesday and Thursday and if he comes through today he should be involved. Wes will be missing for a few weeks. There's no timescale on it, but may be about 4-5 weeks. It's disappointing, but we've got cover with Gary [Neville] and Rafael, and John O'Shea can also play there."
Ferguson will have to watch tomorrow's game from the stands as part of his two-match suspension, after being found guilty of improper conduct by the FA for his post-match rant at referee Mike Dean following United's 4-3 victory over Hull. It is the second time Ferguson has been consigned to the stands in the last 12 months, having served a suspension last Christmas for his verbal attack on Mark Clattenburg.
Today he admitted that he was to blame for losing his temper, but said the FA's respect campaign may be an unworthwhile venture because managers will always be angered by the human errors of referees. "It happens," Ferguson said. "It is my own fault. The [disciplinary panel's] job is not to consider the performance level of referees. You will always get inconsistent decisions because every referee has their own opinions of things and his own judgement about things. That is one of the great things about our game. That has not changed from the day refereeing started."
