Boost: Wayne Rooney is set to feature against Norwich
on Saturday
Wayne Rooney will
confirm his availability for England's Euro 2012 qualifier in
Montenegro next Friday night by returning to Manchester United's
squad against Norwich at Old Trafford on
Saturday.
The striker has missed the last two games with a
hamstring strain, but both Rooney and Javier Hernandez - who
suffered a dead leg at Stoke last weekend - have been declared
fit.
Rooney might start on the bench with Sir Alex
Ferguson giving Danny Welbeck another run-out. But Rooney's return
is a major boost for club and country as England look to clinch
qualification in Podgorica.
'Wayne and Javier Hernandez will be fit. They
trained yesterday very well and I was pleased with that,' Ferguson
said on Friday.
'Jonny Evans also comes back, hopefully that will
help us in the defensive part as we're certainly changing the back
four at the moment.'
After Rooney was injured in training before the
match against Stoke City last weekend, Ferguson said the England
striker could be out 'for a few weeks' but he has made a quicker
than expected recovery as he bids to continue his fine start to the
season which has brought nine goals so far.
Ferguson believes Rooney's partnership with
Hernandez could better the 52-goal total shared between Andy Cole
and Dwight Yorke when United won the Treble in 1998-99.
'I hope that but it's a tough league,' said the
United manager. 'They haven't played a full season together but the
goal threat is immense. I expect Hernandez to score 25 and Wayne
has had a fantastic start.'
Dead leg: Javier Hernandez was injured against Stoke
(above)
Ferguson blamed a shaky defence rather than
a weak in attack for United throwing away a two-goal lead to trail
3-2 before Ashley Young's last-gasp equaliser on Tuesday
night.
Ferguson said his team had been rather 'cavalier' in
their approach and needed to tighten up.
'People say our performance was careless and we
under-estimated our opponents and maybe there's an element of truth
in that,' he said.
'I certainly wasn't happy, even in the first half I
could sense we were too relaxed and could have lost three goals in
the first half.
'We could have scored goals as well but were too
cavalier. We're attacking in the way we're playing at the moment
and people can enjoy it but we have to do better
defensively.'
Unbeaten United have scored 22 goals in six league
games so far.
