Manchester United's makeshift squad
returned from last night's Champions League victory at Wolfsburg
bolstered by the news that several established names are due to
return against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side beat the German champions without 15
senior players, 13 of them out with illness or injury but Nemanja
Vidic, below, Ryan Giggs, Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney are all scheduled to
return at home to Villa.
With injury ruling out Rio Ferdinand, Jonny Evans and John
O'Shea until the new year and Wes Brown also unavailable, Ferguson
will, however, be forced once again to field two midfielders in his
defence. "With Vidic coming back [from flu] I should be able to
have a back four of Darren Fletcher, Vidic, Michael Carrick and
Patrice Evra against Villa," said United's manager who, unusually,
fielded a back three in Wolfsburg where Evra was his sole
recognised defender.
However, a United source has has dismissed reports that Ferguson
could be ready to sign the former England central defender and
current free agent Sol Campbell, who left Notts County in
September, as "nonsense".
It will be fascinating to see whether Michael Owen, scorer of a
hat-trick during the 3-1 win in Germany that ensured United topped
Champions League qualifying Group B, holds his starting place on
Saturday when both Rooney and Berbatov are scheduled to return
following hamstring and knee injuries respectively.