Rio concerns deepen

Sir Alex Ferguson has some major defensive injury concerns to contend with for the visit of Bolton Wanderers to Old Trafford on Saturday. Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are both out of the game with calf injuries, a problem which could potentially prevent Ferdinand from appearing again this season.

It is hoped Vidic will be available after the international break for the trip to West Ham, but the injury headache doesn’t end there for Sir Alex. John O’Shea has been ruled out for five weeks, while Rafael is sidelined for up to three weeks, both with hamstring strains.

That leaves Sir Alex with just five fit regular defenders, but Jonny Evans has not played since 5 February, leaving Fabio, Wes Brown, Chris Smalling and Patrice Evra as the likely back four to face Owen Coyle’s side on Saturday.

“We’re having a bad spell,” Sir Alex admitted to the press on Thursday morning. “Only a few weeks ago we had every defender fit and looking great.

“Rio and Vidic won’t make it, and O’Shea and Rafael are out. I'm sure Vida will be back after the international break, but Rio hasn’t started training yet and we’ll be lucky to maybe get him back for part of the season. Sometimes calf injuries can be troublesome. We experienced this with Robbo in 1990 when he missed around four months with the same injury.

“I’ll hopefully have Jonny Evans fit for Saturday, although it’s a bit of a risk as he’s been out for so long. He’s trained all week though. We’ve also got the bonus of Wes being able to play right-back and centre-back, and Chris Smalling coming to the club. He’s been brilliant.”Elsewhere in the team there is mixed news. Darren Fletcher is still struck down with a virus. Anderson is doing well and has started running and is getting closer to fitness. Owen Hargreaves has also trained all week, while Michael Owen is available for Saturday.

Sir Alex will be desperately hoping to reach the international break after Bolton without any further casualties before regrouping and allowing the injury crisis to ease. The Reds boss added hopefully: “It would give me time to get a few players patched up so we're in better shape by the time we get to the West Ham game [on 2 April].”