Wes Brown is set to return just in time to ease a potential
injury crisis for Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
Skipper Gary Neville and defensive colleague John O’Shea could
be out for weeks, according to Ferguson after being forced out of
Wednesday night’s 2-0 win over Portsmouth at Old Trafford.
It would leave only Rafael as cover at right-back and while the
Brazilian has had an outstanding season for United, Ferguson might
be reluctant to rely solely on a teenager during the crucial latter
stages of the campaign.
However, after a season wrecked by injury, Brown came through a
reserve-team return at Preston on Monday and Ferguson is ready to
draft the England star into his squad for Saturday’s encounter with
Tottenham.
“Wes is fine. He is training hard and should be OK for the
weekend,” United assistant manager Mike Phelan told BBC Radio Manchester.
Brown has been missing with a foot injury since October.
Although he did briefly return to action with a couple of
substitute appearances at the end of January, the Longsight-born
defender then dropped back out of the side.
However, while his performance at Anfield much earlier this
season did attract criticism, Ferguson will not have forgotten
Brown was the mainstay of a defence that won both the Premier
League and Champions League trophies last term.
Meanwhile Neville and O’Shea will both be assessed on Thursday
to discover the extent of their respective problems.
Neville, who has bounced back after a series of injuries over
the past two years, lasted just 10 minutes before limping off with
a foot injury, raising fears he had suffered a repeat of the broken
metatarsal that saw him miss the 2002 World Cup.
O’Shea hurt his ankle following a late tackle by Nadir Belhadj,
although Phelan feels the Irishman may be available first.
“Gary is struggling,” he said.
“He had a nasty cut on the inside of his foot that required
stitches, so it will be pretty sore for a couple of days.”
At least United also expect to have Rio Ferdinand available for
the weekend as well.
Ferdinand sat out Wednesday night’s game as a precaution after
pushing himself through extra-time in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final,
only the second game of his comeback from a groin injury.
