Michael Owen in line for swift Manchester United return
as Sir Alex Ferguson allays fears of long injury
lay-off
Withdrawn: Michael Owen is replaced by Dimitar
Berbatov against Wolfsburg
Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Michael Owen should
be fit for Manchester
United's Premier League match with
Bolton
at Old Trafford on October 17.
It had been feared Owen would be missing for a minimum of three
weeks after limping out of United's Champions League win against
Wolfsburg on Wednesday with a groin strain.
However, Ferguson has revealed the damage is not quite
as extensive as he had first feared.
'We expect him to be available for the next game, it certainly
won't be three weeks,' Ferguson said.
'We are quite pleased. Obviously it is understandable we wanted
to take precautions given his past history but we are quite
comfortable with the situation.
'He did miss training earlier this week so maybe we should have
left him out. But he wanted to play and I wanted him to play.
Thankfully it is not a big problem for us.'
Return: Edwin van der Sar is close to a Manchester
United comeback
Ferguson also revealed that Edwin van der Sar and Rafael Da
Silva were both edging towards full fitness after a broken finger
and shoulder surgery respectively, although neither player is in
contention to face Sunderland at
Old Trafford tomorrow evening.
