Ferdinand, Vidic & Rafael Injury News

Injury troubles are exactly what Manchester United do not need after their opening game of the season, but it's what they've got, as three of the back line have been ruled out for a number of weeks with their respective injuries.

21 year-old Rafael, one half of the Brazilian twin pairing at United, dislocated his shoulder in a training session prior to Manchester United's Premier League opener against West Brom. A club statement confirmed that the young right back will be out for "around ten weeks."

Chris Smalling and Rafael's twin, Fabio played in the right and left-back positions against Albion, in which United won by two goals to one, but the centre back pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Vidic both sustained injuries which will see them miss some games.

Ferdinand pulled up in the second half with a hamstring injury, and the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed after the game that the English defender will miss six weeks of action while Serbian defender Vidic could be out for a couple of weeks with calf problems. Ferguson said:

"We've had a rough time with injuries. Young Rafa has done his shoulder in training in Friday and will be out for 10 weeks, he's probably going to have an operation."

"Rio will be out for six weeks. Vida will have checks tomorrow (Monday), we don't know if it's just a nerve or something, but he could be out for a couple of weeks."

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The Reds Go Marching On - Crushing Arsenal's Cup Hopes

Watch Goals Here

Manchester United don't lose three in a row. After two disappointing losses against Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premier League, there was a wave of relief around Old Trafford when Fabio da Silva smashed the ball into the roof of the net to set United on track to overcome Arsenal. It was a fantastic team performance from a very much altered United side which saw some magnificent individual displays all round in a team which contained seven defenders.

Arsenal began well, keeping possession well when they had it and creating more shots in the first ten minutes than they did in the whole 90 at Barcelona in midweek. However, despite a bright start, Arsenal could not get past the quite amazing Edwin van der Sar who even at 40 displayed millions of reasons throughout why Sir Alex Ferguson is still attempting to persuade him out of retirement.

The two starting wingers, Fabio and Rafael da Silva combined to create a wonderful chance early in the first half as Fabio's cross was met by Rafael after a cutting run. Unfortunately, his header was not one from that of an experienced, prolific striker, but rather what he is; a right wing back, and his header went wildly over. It was however, a warning to Arsenal - these two were dangerous - and more was to come.

It was the goal that changed the game, and it came from Rafael. It was a brilliant move that would have been terrible if it wasn't finished with a goal. Fabio began the attack on the right, and feeding it to Rooney, continued his run. Rooney spotted the ever energetic Hernandez, and dinked it to him, and the "Little Pea" duly directed his header towards the goal brilliantly. Almunia kept it out, but pushed it into the path of the onrushing Fabio who smashed it into the net for the opener.

From then on, Unite has control, and played with confidence going forward and wonderful solidity at the back, with the Smalling, Vidic and Van der Sar keeping out the intricate Arsenal attack superbly.

Arsenal didn't create too much in retaliation, but a beautifully curling shot from van Persie which just dipped over the top corner of his compatriots goal, as well as a Samir Nasri's volley which bounced into the ground into van der Sar's safe hands. A Hernandez shot however, once again led to a United goal, doubling United's lead and giving Arsenal no chance of getting back into it.

Hernandez hit it in the box, only for Johan Djourou to get in the way. The blocked ball bounced up awkwardly and Rooney met it with a soft header which crept into the corner from the post. A flailing Sagna leg could not stop it, and as the ball nestled into the net, Rooney wheeled away with United fans overjoyed at the very likely possibility of an FA Cup semi final.

United held on well, and really could have scored two or three more goals but for a solid Almunia performance. Arsenal fans will be distraught after yet another trophy has slipped away from them. Not only that, but despite the fantastic sight of both Antonio Valencia and Aaron Ramsey returning to action after their terrible injuries, Johan Djourou was stretchered off with what looks a bad injury. The process of fixing him up, putting him on the stretcher and so on, took around six minutes, and we all wish him well in his recovery. It looked like a dislocated shoulder.

It was however, nice to see a Manchester United - Arsenal clash which for 90 minutes contained no bad blood or controversy. Then Paul Scholes came on. He received a yellow card for a rash tackle straight after coming on, and a few minutes into the injury time produced another slightly late tackle. It wasn't a bad tackle - he didn't get the ball, but didn't actually commit a foul. Arsenal players retaliated angrily, and a show of pushing and shoving began between a few players. Arsenal players were asking for a second yellow, but Chris Foy just gave him a stern talking to, which was a good decision.

If he had been sent off, we wouldn't have witnessed a truly beautiful volleyed pass to Rooney which saw United look for a third. Rooney crossed it to Chicharito but it was stopped by Almunia.

A fantastic game, which sees United cruise into the semi-finals of the FA Cup in search of their 12th win of the trophy. So many positives can be taken out of this game from Sir Alex, who may have been worried about a self destruction by his players towards the end of the season. It was quite the opposite to that, and United have a great confidence boost going into their Marseille game on Tuesday. On the other hand, it's time for Arsenal to push on and commit to winning the League.

Watch: Manchester United 2 - 0 Arsenal

It was a great Manchester United performance with some fantastic individual performances as well as a very positive team performance which saw the return of Valencia.

My Match Report Here:

Watch the win here:

United 1 - 0 Arsenal
Fabio Goal



United 2 - 0 Arsenal
Rooney

Tottenham v Man Utd - Will the Unbeaten Run Be Broken?

Tottenham will take on Manchester United on Sunday in a bid to jump above Chelsea and go fourth in the table whilst breaking United's 25 game unbeaten run. Tottenham are unbeaten in their last four home matches in the league against big four opposition, but will they be able to defeat the League leaders who beat them in a controversial 2 - 0 win earlier this season? They will certainly be looking for revenge.

Tottenham fancy themselves too, and probably with good reason. United have not been playing their best football, especially away from home - recording only two away wins in the last nine away games. Their home form and lack of losses is what is keeping them top. However, the away form must improve, and Sir Alex Ferguson will be hoping that the improvement will start with a convincing win at Tottenham.

The Spurs manager said:

"I couldn't see them remaining unbeaten. It's not impossible but I don't see them doing that. I don't see that they are on another planet to the other teams. They are favourites to win the league but not to go unbeaten."

"They haven't hit the heights this year, but they keep winning games and they haven't been beaten. We are playing well. We are a better team than played United last year. We have got every chance. We are at home. We will give them a real game."

The matches between these two team are often littered with controversial moments and often prove to be brilliant entertainment, as both sides love to attack and believe they can win. Tottenham and England defender Michael Dawson will be doing his best to prevent the United attack grabbing a winning goal on Sunday, and he also believes that his teammates are good enough to defeat United:

"Yes they're on a good run and are top of the form table for a reason. But, hopefully, on Sunday we can be the first team to beat them. We want to win things and that means the title. We want to be contenders year after year. And to do that you have to beat the likes of United."

He will be up against a particularly experienced attacker in Ryan Giggs. The Welsh veteran may not have the speed to get around as many players as he could when his sparkling career began, but he can still influence his teammates with his hardworking culture and natural skill. An appearance for Giggs will take his appearance count reach a massive 600 - only 6 appearances away from fellow United legend Sir Bobby Charlton. He is now 37, but his career glides on, and last week played the whole 90 minutes, which impressed his manager:

"His [Ryan Giggs's] fitness was fantastic last week, he was going for the whole 90 minutes up and down the pitch, and he's been doing that for two decades... There is no other player that's ever done that or ever likely to do that... He's quite an amazing man"

His old team mate, David Beckham will not be making an appearance however. He has been training with Tottenham, but a signing has not been completed and doesn't look as if it will be, so none of his trademark crosses will be dropping into the United box onto the head of Peter Crouch, or Spurs' top scorer this season, Rafael van der vaart. The Dutchman has scored 9 league goals, and will be a big threat to United's back line which may contain fellow countryman Edwin van dar sar and Nemanja Vidic after returning from injuries.

Gareth Bale will be threatening the young Rafael on the left wing, which should prove a tough test for the Brazilian who has started to play a lot more for United as Gary Neville eases out of the United team, looking set for retirement. Rooney could be back for the Red Devils, so there will be no lack of attacking football from both sides.

With Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea already recording wins this week-end, both teams need the win. Tottenham have the home crowds support and the motivation of breaking the 6th longest unbeaten run in Premier League history, while United will be looking to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League, and keep that brilliant run going.

I'm looking forward to it.

Disappointing Derby Day - City 0 - 0 United

After all of the build up, all of the talk, and all of the excitement churning in Manchester for the Manchester derby, it turned out to be the only goal-less game in the Premier League of the day.

"Tevez can win it on his own!" roared Joe Hart, "All talk!" cried Evra, "Chelsea will win the title!" screamed Roberto Mancini. If the build up was anything to go by, this game should have been one to remember, but unfortunately, it was the opposite to that.

The match fell victim of all of the hype. Much was expected of the clash of the Manchester clubs in what was expected to be a ferocious, controversy filled night - the closest we got to that was Rafael squaring up to Carlos Tevez - entertaining for a minute, but it is good football and goals we wanted to see.

Overall, United had the most possession of the ball, 53.4% to be precise, but could do very little with it. Likewise with City, when they had the ball, the United defence were too compact, and City players were not committed forward enough to mount to any real attacking threat.

Both teams had good periods where they pressurised the opposing defence, and kept the ball for long periods, but the stats don't lie, and with United having only 3 shots on target, while City had 2, you really didn't miss much if you did happen to skip the game.

United remain unbeaten this season, but manager Sir Alex Ferguson was disappointed with the draw

"City are very difficult to beat on their own ground and obviously they set their stall out," he told Sky Sports.

"I think there was too much tension for it to be kind of match people thought it would be. They set their stall out in the second half and made it very difficult for us.

"It's a decent result but we don't count draws away from home as the target before the game. Our target is to win the game and I think we had enough possession to do that

"Some of our football was good, we were good on the ball but we needed to create openings to win the match and we only really made two which was difficult."

Roberto Mancini on the other had was just happy his team improved on last seasons result.

"I think it was a difficult game for both teams. I think the result is correct but we improved from last year because we didn't concede a goal in the last minute.

"I wanted to win this game but sometimes it is better to draw than lose. We played the game to win, though."

Manchester United and Manchester City fans' heart rate would have been ever so slightly higher watching this game, but it was nothing compared to the 4 - 3 classic at Old Trafford last season, and the tense 0 - 1 win at City last year too. However for the neutral viewer, well, it wasn't great.