Manchester United news and links

• England defender unhappy with lack of action
• Suggests tournament ban for repeat offenders

Rio Ferdinand fears “feeble punishments” for instances of unacceptable crowd behaviour in football may undermine the message that racism has no place in the sport.

The England and Manchester United defender is unconvinced that football’s governing bodies always come up with suitably stringent sanctions against clubs and teams whose supporters still transgress.

Chairing a debate on the problem of racism in football and the need to ensure it is rooted out, Ferdinand noted regrettable behaviour is not always dealt with properly.

“Then you see feeble punishments handed out,” he said on MUTV. “The message to youngsters is that it couldn’t have been that bad after all.

“If you are [disqualified] out of a competition, then I think young people get the message that it is harder-hitting.”

• Manchester United striker picked up calf strain in Ukraine
• Ben Foster has replaced Robert Green in the squad

Wayne Rooney has pulled out of England’s World Cup qualifier with Belarus on Wednesday.

The Manchester United forward picked up a calf strain during yesterday’s 1-0 defeat away to Ukraine and will return to his club for treatment.

Having returned to England following last night’s defeat, the first of Capello’s time as England manager, Rooney had his injury assessed at England’s training base in Hertfordshire and it was decided that he was better served by getting treatment in Manchester rather than staying with the squad for their final qulaifying game

Fabio Capello had earlier called Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster into the squad in place of the suspended Robert Green, who was sent off in Saturday’s defeat.

• ‘I apologise for any embarrassment I may have caused’
• But Utd boss says he was right that referees aren’t fit enough

Sir Alex Ferguson has reacted to growing pressure from Premier League referees for strong action to be taken against him by apologising for his comments about Alan Wiley’s fitness.

Ferguson made the comments after Wiley refereed last week’s 2-2 draw between Manchester United and Sunderland at Old Trafford. Although it was widely interpreted as a diversionary tactic aimed at deflecting attention away from a poor performance by his team, Ferguson made a series of personal statements about Wiley’s fitness, including a belief that he took longer than necessary to book players because he “needed a rest”.

“He was not fit enough for a game of that standard,” Ferguson said. “The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. It is an indictment of our game. You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher’s dogs. He was taking 30 seconds to book a player. It was ridiculous.”

The views outraged Wiley’s colleagues, with some reports suggesting the Staffordshire official had considered retiring from the game.

Ferguson has been asked to submit his thoughts in detail to the FA by Friday and could be given a hefty fine, or a touchline ban. However, preempting that, he yesterday issued a public apology, concluding his attack was ill-judged.

“I apologise to Mr Wiley for any personal embarrassment that my remarks may have caused and to the FA for going public with my views,” he said.

“In retrospect, I accept that this could be deemed as expressing those views in an inappropriate forum. It was never my intention to bring the focus of intense media attention on Mr Wiley. I intend to contact him personally after I return from a trip overseas during this international break.

“I would wish it to be noted that I have always respected Mr Wiley’s integrity and that I did not state or imply that Mr Wiley is a bad referee, that he was in any way biased, that decision-making generally during the game was poor, or that he missed any key incident during the game.

“My only intention in speaking publicly was to highlight what I believe to be a serious and important issue in the game, namely that the fitness levels of referees must match the ever increasing demands of the modern game, which I hope will now be properly addressed through the appropriate formal channels.”

Analysts studied the match and concluded Wiley covered far more ground than the vast majority of the players, but Ferguson stood by his claim that he had brought a relevant issue into the public domain, even if it was inconsistent with the FA’s ongoing Respect campaign.

FA Chairman Lord Triesman last week refused to comment on the specific case, but added: “The Respect programme is showing some very healthy signs in grass roots football and, I think, in the professional leagues as well. Do we have a bad weekend from time to time? Well, yes. Will we need to make sure we press on? Yes.”

• ‘I know we will play Real Madrid,’ says Evra
• France defender would have to subdue Cristiano Ronaldo

Patrice Evra is convinced Manchester United will end up facing Real Madrid sooner or later in this season’s Champions League.

Both clubs have claimed maximum points from their first two games, and should they win their respective groups they will not be able to face each other in the first knockout stage. However, Evra believes fate will ensure United tackle the Spanish giants for the first time since Madrid came through an epic confrontation in 2003.

“I know we will play Real Madrid,” Evra told Inside United. “I can’t explain it. It is just a feeling. But I think we will play them, maybe even in the next round.”

And that would mean Evra being given the task of subduing Ronaldo, a task he has had plenty of practice for.

“I once played against him in an Under-21 international but remember, I used to face him every day in training. He knows it could be very difficult for him,” said Evra. “Ronaldo was a close friend and I was sad to see him leave. But you need to accept it.

“And the thing about Manchester United is, no one player is the star – the club is the star. Sir Alex Ferguson tries to maintain that every year.”

While Ronaldo’s Old Trafford exit was the one that secured a world-record £80m transfer fee, it was the departure of Carlos Tevez that split up a rather unlikely trio. On trips around the world, Evra, Tevez and Park Ji-sung used to spend amazing lengths of time together for a unit that did not really have a common language.

It meant Evra felt a particular pain for Tevez when he was getting jeered during the recent Manchester derby while, on the plus side, he has now developed his own fan club in Korea.

“Because I am a close friend of Ji there has been this reaction,” said Evra. “This is what happens when you play for United. You go to every part of the world and everybody loves you.

“I am still good friends with Carlos but it was painful when I saw him with the City shirt on. He was upset by the booing but he understands.”

• ‘I know we will play Real Madrid,’ says Evra
• France defender would have to subdue Cristiano Ronaldo

Patrice Evra is convinced Manchester United will end up facing Real Madrid sooner or later in this season’s Champions League.

Both clubs have claimed maximum points from their first two games, and should they win their respective groups they will not be able to face each other in the first knockout stage. However, Evra believes fate will ensure United tackle the Spanish giants for the first time since Madrid came through an epic confrontation in 2003.

“I know we will play Real Madrid,” Evra told Inside United. “I can’t explain it. It is just a feeling. But I think we will play them, maybe even in the next round.”

And that would mean Evra being given the task of subduing Ronaldo, a task he has had plenty of practice for.

“I once played against him in an Under-21 international but remember, I used to face him every day in training. He knows it could be very difficult for him,” said Evra. “Ronaldo was a close friend and I was sad to see him leave. But you need to accept it.

“And the thing about Manchester United is, no one player is the star – the club is the star. Sir Alex Ferguson tries to maintain that every year.”

While Ronaldo’s Old Trafford exit was the one that secured a world-record £80m transfer fee, it was the departure of Carlos Tevez that split up a rather unlikely trio. On trips around the world, Evra, Tevez and Park Ji-sung used to spend amazing lengths of time together for a unit that did not really have a common language.

It meant Evra felt a particular pain for Tevez when he was getting jeered during the recent Manchester derby while, on the plus side, he has now developed his own fan club in Korea.

“Because I am a close friend of Ji there has been this reaction,” said Evra. “This is what happens when you play for United. You go to every part of the world and everybody loves you.

“I am still good friends with Carlos but it was painful when I saw him with the City shirt on. He was upset by the booing but he understands.”

• ‘I know we will play Real Madrid,’ says Evra
• France defender would have to subdue Cristiano Ronaldo

Patrice Evra is convinced Manchester United will end up facing Real Madrid sooner or later in this season’s Champions League.

Both clubs have claimed maximum points from their first two games, and should they win their respective groups they will not be able to face each other in the first knockout stage. However, Evra believes fate will ensure United tackle the Spanish giants for the first time since Madrid came through an epic confrontation in 2003.

“I know we will play Real Madrid,” Evra told Inside United. “I can’t explain it. It is just a feeling. But I think we will play them, maybe even in the next round.”

And that would mean Evra being given the task of subduing Ronaldo, a task he has had plenty of practice for.

“I once played against him in an Under-21 international but remember, I used to face him every day in training. He knows it could be very difficult for him,” said Evra. “Ronaldo was a close friend and I was sad to see him leave. But you need to accept it.

“And the thing about Manchester United is, no one player is the star – the club is the star. Sir Alex Ferguson tries to maintain that every year.”

While Ronaldo’s Old Trafford exit was the one that secured a world-record £80m transfer fee, it was the departure of Carlos Tevez that split up a rather unlikely trio. On trips around the world, Evra, Tevez and Park Ji-sung used to spend amazing lengths of time together for a unit that did not really have a common language.

It meant Evra felt a particular pain for Tevez when he was getting jeered during the recent Manchester derby while, on the plus side, he has now developed his own fan club in Korea.

“Because I am a close friend of Ji there has been this reaction,” said Evra. “This is what happens when you play for United. You go to every part of the world and everybody loves you.

“I am still good friends with Carlos but it was painful when I saw him with the City shirt on. He was upset by the booing but he understands.”

• Manchester United manager approaching 23 years in job
• Scot will be 68 on New Year’s Eve but eager to carry on

Sir Alex Ferguson has insisted his determination to succeed remains undimmed despite years of success at Old Trafford.

The Scot, 68 on 31 December, marks the 23rd anniversary of his appointment as Manchester United manager next month. And after aborting a retirement plan in 2002 Ferguson is intent on adding to his unprecedented haul of trophies, which includes 11 Premier League titles, two Champions League victories, five FA Cups and three League Cups.

“When you manage this club there is an expectation every day,” Ferguson is quoted as saying in the Manchester Evening News.

“It keeps you on your toes. There is an easy motivation here. There is the expectation of the club and the players you have to deal with.

“There are some terrific players here. Then it becomes part of the process. It is easy to buy into. That makes it very easy to keep the motivation all the time.”

• Edwards was responsible for club’s stock market flotation
• David Sheepshanks may be sheepish at next FA meeting

So Martin Edwards has peeked under the skirts of Manchester United’s finances and he does not like what he sees. According to the former chairman and chief executive at Old Trafford, the Glazers have run up too much debt in their four years as owners of the club.

But isn’t that a bit rich from the head of a family that was enriched from floating Manchester United on the stock exchange in the first place? The Edwards decision, which led to the club being offered publicly in 1991, guaranteed he would retain a 50.5% controlling stake in United while scooping more than £5m (around £8.5m in today’s money). There were gradual sell-offs of those shares, worth tens of millions, until in October 1999 Edwards, his wife and trusts in which he had an interest sold another 6.5% of the club to city institutions for £40.9m (today: £52m).

Finally he came close to selling out all of his United shares with a £20m sale to Harry Dobson in 2002. In short, Edwards has not done badly out of United. But the point is, United would not be where they are today, with their £700m debts, were Edwards never to have floated them on the stock exchange.

What interest did those 13 city institutions who handed over nearly £41m to Edwards have? The same family loyalty he could lay claim to? No: they wanted profit and thanks to the Glazers’ 2005 purchase of the club they duly achieved that.

Sheepshanks sheepish

Australia 2018-2022’s promotional “plastic bags”, which have carried such a storm into the Leaders in Football conference, should still bear a health warning. The shoulder bags were disparaged by England 2018’s bid leaders Andy Anson and David Triesman, who were stung by their prominent positioning at the entrance to the entire conference. England 2018 were caught off guard by the display of useful Aussie propaganda material, having not previously been warned of permission having been given for the move.

David Sheepshanks, right, a highly visible figure at the conference, is a 3% shareholder in Leaders in Football through his equity in its stakeholder Alexander Ross, a sports consultancy firm. Given that he is also a Football Association board member, a rebuke might be in store from the bid chairman, Lord Triesman, at the next board meeting at Wembley. Sheepshanks, though, insists that since he used a side entrance on Wednesday he was not aware of the bags until he arrived yesterday morning, by which time the damage was done. “I was in the dark about that and I am as disappointed as my FA colleagues about it,” Sheepshanks said.

Burton goes for a Burton

The National Football Centre in Burton is, well, going for a Burton – at least in the opinion of Triesman. With the black hole in the FA’s revenues that the collapse of Setanta created, a second major capital project after Wembley was yesterday ruled out by Triesman unless the FA can achieve “the whole flow of the income” for which it previously budgeted. Sheepshanks, who is also chairman of the National Football Centre’s five-man board, seeks a clarification here, too.

“The fact of the matter is we are fully engaged in consultation to bring the project to fruition,” Sheepshanks said. “The FA recognises that the funding needs to be done differently, and from a variety of sources. But the FA investing what it originally intended is unfeasible.”

BBC rights can be wrong

The value of sports-broadcast rights, which have been the oxygen for the growth of money in English football in recent years, looks like being dealt yet more heavy blows. Sky’s chief executive, Jeremy Darroch, yesterday warned that piracy will “ultimately hurt the interests of clubs and of genuine fans by depriving their clubs of income”, a stark statement indeed. Also the BBC Trust, which is the corporation’s watchdog, yesterday upheld a complaint from TalkSport about the Beeb pushing up radio rights artificially high and “warehousing” those rights without broadcasting from matches with its exclusive bids. The Trust warned that Auntie should think hard before pursuing the ever-more-expensive exclusive rights that have been a key driver for sports organisations, saying: “The achievement of value for money does not necessarily require the securing of exclusive sports rights.Where service licence and other requirements and obligations can be met without securing exclusive rights, then proper consideration ought to be given to this option.”

• French club say Fifa decision is provisional and a ‘non-event’
• Le Havre compare Pogba case to N’Zogbia transfer in 2007

Le Havre have denied Manchester United’s claim that Fifa has cleared Paul Pogba to join the Premier League champions. The two clubs have been embroiled in a feud over the teenager and the issue appeared to be resolved when United released a statement saying they had been authorised by Fifa to register Paul Pogba “with immediate effect”.

However, Le Havre say no firm decision has yet been made by Fifa. “Contrary to what Manchester United state on their official website, Fifa has not validated the transfer of Paul Pogba but, as they normally do in this type of case, have issued a provisional international certificate. The decision of the international body is therefore a non-event and is normal procedure.”

Pogba has been caught in a battle between United and Le Havre, which appeared to have similarities with the case of Gaël Kakuta, which landed Chelsea with a ban on signing players for the next two transfer windows.

Le Havre say financial inducements had been offered to break a contract, something United immediately denied – citing the fact he did not have a deal in place. It was a stance reinforced by the United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who said it has never been club policy to pay the parents of players, as had been alleged.

The Ligue 1 club have vowed to keep on fighting, confirming they will take the case to Fifa’s Dispute Resolution Chamber. The club added: “This procedure has moreover been followed in cases such as those of [Charles] N’Zogbia or Kakuta and today we know the result of each one of these cases.”

N’Zogbia was a Le Havre player when he signed for Newcastle in 2007, although he mistakenly believed he was a free agent. Le Havre took the player and Newcastle to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and both had to pay the French team a total of £640,000.

United claimed the judge decided Pogba was still an amateur because he had never received anything beyond normal expenses to play for the club. And, because of his age, Le Havre could not have got an agreement for him to sign a professional contract.

A statement released by Manchester United said: “Manchester United is pleased to confirm that the Football Association has been authorised by Fifa to register Paul Pogba as a Manchester United player with immediate effect.”

• Hargreaves last played for Manchester United 13 months ago
• Midfielder had suffered recurring tendinitis problems

The Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves says he can finally see “light at the end of the tunnel” after 13 months spent rehabilitating a recurring tendinitis problem with both knees.

Hargreaves played his last match for United in September 2008 and has since had two operations, one on each knee, but returned to the club’s Carrington training complex a fortnight ago after long-term rehabilitation in Colorado under the care of the renowned knee surgeon Dr Richard Steadman.

“It is difficult to say an exact date but I do feel I can see light at the end of the tunnel now,” the 28-year-old told the Manchester Evening News “Coming back to Manchester was a big step. Having people from United around me also makes me realise I am getting closer.

“I am coming back to have a massive effect and to play well and for us to win titles. It is not about getting back for one game or for one day, I want to come back and be back for another six or eight years.

“I have thought about playing again a lot. It is human nature to have doubts obviously. I had little moments but I never had one moment of major doubt that I’d be back.”

• FA authorised by Fifa to register Pogba as a United player
• Fifa rules Pogba had no contract at Le Havre

Paul Pogba is to become a Manchester United player after Fifa approved his transfer to the Premier League champions.

The teenager has been caught up in a battle between United and Le Havre, which appeared to have similarities with the case that has landed Chelsea with a ban on signing players for the next two transfer windows. At one point, the Le Havre president Jean-Pierre Louvel became so vitriolic in his statements that United felt compelled to issue a warning for him to keep quiet or risk being taken to court.

And the Old Trafford outfit were yesterday vindicated in their stance after a judge, appointed by Fifa to rule on the case, upheld United’s claim that Pogba could not have been offered financial inducements to break a contract – because he didn’t have one.

“Manchester United is pleased to confirm that the Football Association has been authorised by Fifa to register Paul Pogba as a Manchester United player with immediate effect,” said a statement released by the club last night.

Le Havre insisted inducements had been offered to break a contract, something United immediately denied with Sir Alex Ferguson insisting it has never been club’s policy to pay the parents of players, as had been alleged. In fact, the argument never even got that far as the judge decided Pogba was still an amateur because he had never received anything beyond normal expenses to play for the club.

And, because of his age, Le Havre could not have got an agreement for him to sign a professional contract anyway.

In delivering his judgment, the judge wholly accepted Manchester United’s argument as to why international transfer clearance should be issued immediately, dismissing all Le Havre’s submissions.

• ‘The crunch time will come when they exit,’ says Edwards
• ‘It concerns me that the club are in so much debt’

Martin Edwards, the former Manchester United chairman and now a life honorary president, has become the first dissenting voice at boardroom level to question the way the club is being run by the Glazer family.

Edwards described the Glazers as having “behaved fairly well” but he is also alarmed that, under the ownership of the American businessmen, United have accrued debts of around £700m.

“It concerns me that the club are in so much debt,” he said. “The club are not in control; that family are in control of the debt. I can understand where the fans are coming from with their concerns. The crunch time will come when they [the Glazers] exit. Will they saddle the club with the debt or just sell the club on for a profit because that’s all they are interested in? How will they leave the club?

• Pogba to join United after Fifa rejects Le Havre complaints
• Lawrence Donegan: Ferguson’s diversion damages Wiley
• Today in Sport: Have your say on the Glazers on our blog
• Digger: Europe’s elite resistant to Fifa wage cap calls

“I’m not going to make any accusations because up to now they have behaved fairly well, supporting the manager, and they haven’t disrupted the running of the club or the personnel. Time will tell.”

Edwards no longer holds any executive powers at Old Trafford and endured strong criticisms of his own during large spells of his chairmanship from 1980 to 2002, most notably when he recommended to the club’s shareholders that they accepted a £623m takeover bid from BSkyB.

“I thought Sky would have taken Manchester United to a level where nobody could have got near us,” he explained. “That’s why I recommended their offer in 1998. When they approached us, we had gone 30 years without winning the European Cup. I felt that they could have pushed us on to the next level.”

Edwards, interviewed for a new book by the writer Andy Mitten – “Glory, Glory! Man United in the 1990s” – had an erratic relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson but believes the manager is still the most important person at the club.

“He’s had one hell of a run. I think he’ll think about moving on when he gets to 70. He will have done more years than [Sir] Matt [Busby] and his legacy will be there for ever more.”

• Ferguson blamed Foster for Sunderland’s second goal
• Keeper was removed from England squad with chest injury

Ben Foster, left out of Fabio Capello’s England squad on Sunday after a string of goalkeeping errors in recent games, was involved in a furious row with his Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, the previous day, according to reports in the Daily Star last night.

Ferguson blamed his out-of-sorts goalkeeper for allowing Kenwyne Jones to score during last Saturday’s 2-2 Premier League draw at Old Trafford. It was the latest in a line of high-profile mistakes the 26-year-old has made.

Foster has officially been left out of the England squad because of a chest injury, but his form and confidence have disintegrated this season, when he has covered for the injured Edwin van der Sar.

The Dutchman played in the reserves against Everton last night on Tuesday and may return to the first team after this weekend’s international break.

Ferguson has recently been linked with the Sporting Lisbon goalkeeper Rui Patricio with Van der Sar revealing he will decide whether or not he is to retire at the end of this season in January.

• This article was amended on 7 October 2009. The original omitted to attribute the newspaper where the report originally appeared. This has been corrected.

• Former referee believes Ferguson will get his comeuppance
• ‘If I was Alan [Wiley] I’d be tempted to sue Sir Alex’

Jeff Winter has described Sir Alex Ferguson as “a bully” and “a coward” for his attack on Alan Wiley. Following United’s 2-2 draw at home to Sunderland on Saturday Ferguson claimed that the 49-year-old Wiley was “unfit”. Winter, a retired Premier League referee, believes it was an unforgivable slight on his former colleague and predicts a backlash from referees assigned to officiate at Old Trafford.

“I think Sir Alex may have overstepped the line this time and he may be about to get his comeuppance,” he said. “I think referees will be so incensed about this that Sir Alex may find that United no longer get the benefit of the doubt on certain decisions.”

• FA chases Ferguson over ‘unfit’ referee comments
• Louise Taylor: Wiley’s fitness shouldn’t be questioned
• Daniel Taylor on the Ben Foster conundrum

Winter believes the criticism of Wiley was designed to deflect attention from United’s poor performance but that it will have long-term consequences for the rest of the referee’s career. “It was a cowardly attack – Sir Alex wouldn’t have said it to Alan Wiley’s face,” said Winter.

“Every game Alan Wiley takes charge of now where he makes a decision which upsets some fans is going to result in chants of ‘You’re not fit to referee’, he’s going to be known as the ‘unfit ref’. Sir Alex won’t care though. He’s a knight of the realm and he thinks he’s untouchable, bullet proof.

“But he’s also a bully. He spoke at Sir Bobby Robson’s memorial service a couple of weeks ago and said he’d learnt a lot from Sir Bobby. But he hadn’t, they were totally different, Sir Bobby was a gentleman. He was humble and had respect for people.”

Winter feels Ferguson neglected to extend Wiley a proper duty of care. “Alan Wiley had not contributed in any shape or form to United only drawing and he cannot fight back. It won’t happen but, if I was Alan, I’d be tempted to sue Sir Alex.”

Winter says he is “not a friend” of Wiley’s but had considerable respect for him as a colleague. “I’ve trained with the guy and I know just how fit and professional he is,” he said. “He’s 49 now but he’s still extremely fit. If he wasn’t he wouldn’t be getting a game, simple as that. Referees don’t just have an annual fitness test which is pretty tough but they are continually assessed and re-assessed.” All referees have ptis (personal training instructors) looking after them. Anyone not up to standard is dropped”.

The prospect of the Football Association charging Ferguson with disrepute does nothing to assuage Winter’s anger. “What difference will it make?” he said. “What can they do to him give him a touchline ban and fine him. Fines don’t hurt multi-millionaires.”

Adverse refereeing decisions might though. “Human nature’s a funny thing,” mused Winter. “Sir Alex might just find a few refereeing decisions going against him.”

Manchester United declined to comment tonight.

Man Utd’s keeper may, indeed, have hurt his chest, but the fact that his England omission caused so much suspicion is an indictment in itself

Officially, the Football Association’s explanation for Ben Foster being left out of the England squad was that he had taken a bang to the chest. Unofficially, it was difficult not to suspect that someone behind the scenes was trying to be kind with semantics in the same way, perhaps, that a struggling manager might be called into the chief executive’s office and told he was leaving by “mutual consent”. But then, nobody at the FA is going to confess what Fabio Capello must be thinking right now, namely that Foster got his big chance, in a World Cup year, and that over two sapping months his confidence, form and reputation have disintegrated.

To put it another way, there is an authentic sense that Edwin van der Sar’s understudy at Manchester United has blown it for this season, and if that sounds terribly harsh then consider the fact that Capello has been at every one of the games this season in which the man hailed by Sir Alex Ferguson as “England’s goalkeeper for the next 10 years” has brought back memories of the Spanish sports daily AS’s assessment of David James in the 2004 European Championship.

James, AS wrote, had become “a danger to his own players” and, in Foster’s current form, the truth is Capello could not dare select him. Had he wanted him in his squad, the England head coach would have asked him to report to the FA’s medical staff, as is common practice these days.

By now, everyone knows the mistakes: the uncertain punch in the Community Shield for Chelsea’s first goal; letting Andrei Arshavin’s shot beat him against Arsenal; two goals against Manchester City and then, on Saturday, the timid jump for Sunderland’s second goal and, if we are going to be pedantic, a largely unconvincing effort to keep out the first as well.

“The problem he has is that he’s playing for a very successful team and replacing one of the best goalkeepers there is,” said Alex Stepney, United’s goalkeeper from the 1968 European Cup-winning team. “It’s very difficult to reach that level straight away but football can be very impatient and Ben has made a few mistakes now.

“I was thinking he had got over the Manchester City game because he played at Stoke City the next week and did very well but that second goal against Sunderland was another bad one to concede. You have to be strong as a goalkeeper and, if necessary, take out the forward.”

The easy thing is to spot a player who has lost his confidence but the difficult part is to realise what has gone wrong, and how to fix it. Foster’s team-mates believe his confidence began to erode after an embarrassing mistake in pre-season against a Malaysia XI, miscontrolling the ball to give away a goal that could have been wrapped in pink ribbon. His self-belief was so battered towards the end of Saturday’s game that he was having trouble dealing with a routine backpass.

Two weekends previously, he had sat in the dressing room after the 4-3 win over City as “the only one with an upside down smile on my face”. It had been an “absolute disaster,” the 26-year-old acknowledged. “I wanted to bury my head in the sand. I didn’t really want to watch the television and there was no way I was reading the papers the next day.”

What we can say for certain is that Van der Sar will automatically return to the team if, as expected, his broken finger has healed in time for United’s first game after the international break, at home to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday week. Foster will be taken out of the firing line to work with the goalkeeping coach, Eric Steele, and analyse what has gone wrong. Steele is said to have been “hard” on the player rather than offering him the arm-round-the-shoulder treatment.

“The fortunate thing these days is that every top club has a goalkeeping coach and it will be up to him [Steele] to make sure Foster is in the right frame of mind,” Stepney said. “Remember, we’re talking about a goalkeeper who was magnificent at Watford for two seasons and what about the Carling Cup final last season? He was man of the match that day. Yes, he has had some injuries and that seems to have disrupted his career a little. But I feel he is a strong character.”

Nonetheless, there is no escaping the fact that Foster’s form has become a source of intense disappointment for Ferguson and Capello just a few months after Peter Shilton tipped him to become the best goalkeeper in the world. Foster may, indeed, have hurt his chest, but the fact that the announcement caused so much suspicion is an indictment in itself.

• United midfielder one shy of 100 Premier League goals
• ‘Nobody can boast his longevity and consistency’ - Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed Ryan Giggs as the best player of the Premier League era. The Manchester United midfielder, who will be 36 in November, has been outstanding this season and is now only one goal away from becoming the 17th player to score 100 Premier League goals.

“We have had a lot of top-class players in this league – and some have probably made more of an impact than Ryan – but nobody can boast the same sort of longevity and consistency,” said Ferguson of Giggs, who has won 11 league titles having made his United debut in March 1991. “He was there when the league started and he is still there now. I think you would have to say Ryan is the best.”

Giggs scored his 150th United goal against Wolfsburg in the Champions League last week and is also the club’s record appearance holder (814), feats which have partly been put down to the former Wales international’s adaptability and extraordinary fitness level.

“We have played him out wide in a few games recently because he is fresh at the moment,” Ferguson told the club’s official magazine, Inside United. “It’s the beginning of the season so he has got plenty of running in him and he can do a lot of damage in the wide position.

“But I think you will find as the season progresses he will move back into the middle of the park where he can dictate the games.”

• United goalkeeper sustained strain in 2-2 draw with Sunderland
• Van der Sar set to return after the international break

Manchester United have said that Ben Foster has been ruled out of England’s World Cup double-header against Ukraine and Belarus with a chest injury.

The Football Association did not specify Foster’s injury when the squad was released last night, but now United have stated that the 26-year-old is being “investigated” for an injury sustained during Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Sunderland, although one not serious enough to prevent him from completing the match.

Conspiracy theorists had suggested an injury was merely the excuse for omitting Foster when the decision had been taken on the grounds of form.

The goalkeeper has been blamed for Sunderland’s second goal after being out-muscled for the ball by Kenwyne Jones. This came two weeks after what Sir Alex Ferguson described as a “difficult” afternoon against Manchester City, when Foster was blamed for two goals, losing the ball to Carlos Tevez for Gareth Barry’s opener, then going down far too quickly for Craig Bellamy’s second equaliser.

Foster’s chances at United look like being severely limited after the international break as Edwin van der Sar is due to return after breaking two fingers in a game with Bayern Munich in July.

• United manager criticised Alan Wiley after Sunderland draw
• Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce off the hook with the FA

The Football Association has written to the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to ask him to explain his comments about referee Alan Wiley.

Ferguson questioned the 49-year-old official’s fitness after the 2-2 draw with Sunderland at Old Trafford on Saturday. Having looked at the remarks, the FA has now requested that the United boss explains the reasons behind his outburst.

• Ferguson is a bully, says retired ref Jeff Winter
• Louise Taylor: Wiley’s fitness shouldn’t be questioned
• Daniel Taylor on the Ben Foster conundrum

However, no further action will be taken against Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce, who criticised Peter Walton for not giving Rovers a penalty in yesterday’s 6-2 defeat at Arsenal.

Ferguson’s comments have been criticised by Alan Leighton, national secretary of professionals’ union Prospect - who represent referees. “My main concern is about the unfounded and totally unwarranted remarks about Alan Wiley’s fitness,” he said.

“Not only does it dig at the heart of Alan’s professionalism, where he is one of our top and longest-serving referees, but it also has an impact on all the others.

“Sir Alex made comments about other referees and said about European referees being fit as butchers’ dogs, comparing them with some referees from the UK who aren’t fit.

“All of the referees, all of the officials and all of the assistant referees pass stringent fitness tests at the start of the season. Prozone statistics are used to monitor their performance in every game. If Alan Wiley or any other referee were not fit they would not be refereeing.”

• 34-year-old left out of squad to face Ukraine and Belarus
• ‘The time has come for Glen Johnson or Wes Brown’

Gary Neville has conceded that his England career is drawing to a close and it is unlikely he will be selected for next summer’s World Cup.

The 34-year-old Manchester United defender was called into Fabio Capello’s squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra last June and made the bench in the second of those games, without getting called into action.

And with his United team-mate Wes Brown again named as Glen Johnson’s deputy at right-back for the matches against Ukraine and Belarus next week, Neville thinks the England manager is now looking elsewhere.

“To be honest, I am not looking at an England return,” Neville said. “The time has probably come for Glen Johnson or Wes Brown now. They have done very well and I think they are the first-choice players. It doesn’t mean I would turn down the opportunity if it came, but it is not something I am focusing on.”

If Neville is proven correct it would leave him as England’s ninth most-capped player with 85 caps.

The Bury-born defender made his debut against Japan in 1995 and went on to feature in five major tournaments, including Euro 96, when he was an ever-present until being suspended for the semi-final defeat to Germany. He missed the 2002 World Cup due to a broken metatarsal.

• ‘He wasn’t fit. He was walking, needing a rest,’ says manager
• Comments likely to draw wrath of FA’s disciplinary department

Sir Alex Ferguson may have talked himself into trouble with the Football Association after accusing the referee Alan Wiley of being “not fit” and claiming that the official was deliberately taking a 30-second breather when booking players because “he needed a rest”.

Ferguson described Wiley’s condition as “an indictment of our game” and the FA’s disciplinary department is distinctly unimpressed after writing to every Premier League manager at the start of the season to instruct them not to comment about match officials.

Ignoring the new guidelines, Ferguson was heavily critical of Wiley’s performance in the 2-2 draw with Sunderland at Old Trafford, accusing the Staffordshire official of not being able to keep up with the pace of the game.

“I was disappointed with the referee, I must say,” Ferguson said. “He just wasn’t fit enough for a game of that stature. The fitness of both [sets of] players, the pace of the game, demanded a referee who was fit. He’s not fit. I don’t think he’s fit.

“It’s an indictment of our game that we see referees from abroad are fit as butcher’s dogs. We’ve got some good referees in our country who are fit. But he wasn’t fit. He didn’t add any time on for the goal we scored [in stoppage time]. He played four minutes and two seconds’ injury time. There should have been another 30 seconds. But he was actually walking up the pitch after the [final] goal, needing a rest.”

Ferguson, who made his feelings known in strong terms to the fourth official Mike Dean, was asked whether he felt Wiley’s conditioning had affected his decision-making. “Well, he was taking 30 seconds to book a player,” he replied. “He was taking a rest. I think he’s taking a rest, writing down the names on his card and taking 30 seconds for a booking; it’s ridiculous.”

Wiley has been described as “very upset” after a match the 49-year-old felt had passed by without significant controversy. He is particularly aggrieved that his physical condition has been called into question and his employers at the Professional Game Match Officials Limited have told him they are willing to back him if he wants to take the matter further.

The general manager, Keith Hackett, is also considering contacting Ferguson to let him know how badly the allegations have gone down and to point out that Wiley passed a stringent fitness test before the start of the season and is subject to regular checks.

The PGMOL guidelines state that all referees have an individually tailored fitness regime and weekly training programme. They have to supply fitness records every week and be able to run 40 metres inside 6.2 seconds. The PGMOL data shows that the average Premier League referee runs 11km in every match, which is about the same as most midfielders. “The fitness of [our] Select Group match officials is continually assessed throughout the season to ensure it is of the highest possible standard,” a spokesman said.

Wiley, a Premier League referee since 1995, was the fourth official when United beat Manchester City 14 days ago courtesy of a Michael Owen strike in the sixth minute of stoppage time. On that occasion, however, Ferguson was seen laughing and joking with the official after the decisive goal.

• Patrice Evra concerned after Sunderland expose frailties
• ‘If you want to win the league, you have to keep clean sheets’

Patrice Evra admits he is concerned by Manchester United’s defending after the champions required another late comeback just to earn a 2-2 draw against Sunderland yesterday.

Sunderland were denied a merited victory when Evra’s shot flew in off Anton Ferdinand, triggering relief in the stands and a bizarre rant at the referee, Alan Wiley, from Sir Alex Ferguson.

But there was no back-slapping in the home dressing room, just frustration at an inability to keep the opposition out. “I am worried that we are not keeping clean sheets,” said Evra. “I am not happy about it because, if you want to win the league, you have to keep clean sheets. Last year we only conceded 21 goals. We can’t concede more than that this season.”

United have conceded eight in their opening eight matches and kept four clean sheets. Yet a sudden frailty at home seems to have developed. Three goals against Manchester City a fortnight ago, followed by another two yesterday, added to their concerns, with the goalkeeper Ben Foster’s contribution a particular worry.

In front of the England coach, Fabio Capello, Foster was badly beaten in an aerial duel with Kenwyne Jones, which allowed the Trinidad and Tobago man to head into an unguarded net.

The goal halted what seemed certain to be a home march for victory, leaving Evra to rescue what even he felt was an undeserved point. “It was a big disappointment,” he said. “It is very frustrating because it looked like we had no energy or power. I don’t know why. It was just very poor. I don’t know if we even deserved a point.”

• Ferguson also wanted more injury time
• Manager says Alan Wiley needed a rest

Sir Alex Ferguson launched a blistering attack on Alan Wiley after Manchester United secured an injury-time draw against Sunderland. The United manager the official of “not being fit enough” to do his job and of failing to add enough injury time.

Wiley, the fourth official for last month’s controversial Manchester derby, was in charge at Old Trafford this afternoon as an own-goal from Anton Ferdinand allowed United a 2-2 draw.

Ferguson claimed Wiley had not played the correct amount of added time because he had failed to add on an additional minute to the four already signalled once United scored.

“I was disappointed with the referee,” said Ferguson. “He didn’t add on any time for the goal. He played four minutes and two seconds.

“He was also walking up the pitch for the second goal needing a rest. He was not fit enough for a game of that standard. The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. He was not fit. It is an indictment of our game.

“You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher’s dogs. We have some who are fit. He wasn’t fit. He was taking 30 seconds to book a player. He was needing a rest. It was ridiculous.”

Ferguson twice headed to the touchline during the second half to make his feelings known about controversial decisions. At one point, after he felt Anderson was denied a penalty, he jabbed his finger at the fourth official Mike Dean and then pointed angrily to the pitch.

Whatever the merits of Ferguson’s argument, he will have succeeded in taking the spotlight away from his side, who were indebted to Patrice Evra’s deflected shot after they had produced probably their worst performance of the season, with Ben Foster again at fault for the second-half header from Kenwyne Jones that looked like being the winner.

“It was a soft goal to lose,” admitted Ferguson. “Our passing was very poor in the first half. In the end we needed to show some great qualities to get something out of the game on a day when we played really badly.”

Sunderland were reduced to 10 men after Kieran Richardson was sent off for kicking the ball away, a decision that angered the Sunderland players, but not the manager Steve Bruce.

“It was stupid,” said Bruce. “It is hard enough to defend here with 11 players. These things happen in the heat of the moment but it could have cost us the game.”

United used the dismissal to have one last assault at the visitors’ goal, with Ferdinand the unlucky man as he deflected Evra’s shot past Craig Gordon.

“It is totally disappointing,” said Bruce. “I don’t know what the stat is for the number of times Manchester United have done that but it is what makes this club what it is I suppose. It just proves you have to go down to the wire.

“Even when they don’t play well, they always seem to get something out of it. And the Ayatollah himself just sits there and watches. That is what he has brought to the club. They never give in.”

• Key players set to be available for Bolton match
• Manager praises Hargreaves’s set-piece ability

Owen Hargreaves and Michael Owen could be available for Manchester United’s first game after the international break. Both will miss today’s match against Sunderland at Old Trafford but Hargreaves will resume full training next week after two knee operations and the groin injury Owen suffered in Wednesday’s Champions League win over Wolfsburg is not as bad as had been feared.

United play Bolton on 17 October. Yesterday, Sir Alex Ferguson had particular praise for Hargreaves.

“He has proved what an excellent footballer he is,” the manager said. “One area that he may help us more in is that outside [Cristiano] Ronaldo I don’t think there is a better set-piece deliverer of the ball than Owen. Ronaldo can get you maybe three of four goals from free-kicks and we are searching for that at the moment.

“[Hargreaves’s] physio has now left and gone back to America, he is completely under our control now and hopefully he will be back into football training soon and the signs are good. He has had absolutely no reaction from the operations and it has been a long road for the boy. But I am sure that the sacrifice to stay in America to get himself right shows there is a good determination in there to do well when he comes back.”

If Hargreaves feels he has a tale of injury woe to entertain the dressing room, he would concede that Owen would happily swap lower limbs with him, regardless of his recent travails. When he was substituted 20 minutes into United’s 2-1 win over Wolfsburg on Wednesday, another line was added to Owen’s footballing obituary, yet, in another fillip for Ferguson, it appears that reports of the striker’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.

“It’s not as bad as we first thought,” Ferguson said. “There was precaution attached to it, and he should be available next week. When he missed the training session [before the Wolfsburg match] maybe we should have left him out but we wanted him to play and he wanted to play. He’ll be fit for the Bolton Wanderers match and we’re pleased with that. On Michael’s part, it was precaution, which is understandable given his history but I think he’ll be OK.”

• Owen had been expected to miss a minimum of three weeks
• Edwin van der Sar and Rafael Da Silva nearing full fitness

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Michael Owen should be fit for Manchester United’s Premier League game against Bolton at Old Trafford on 17 October. Owen had been expected to miss a minimum of three weeks after limping out of United’s Champions League win over Wolfsburg on Wednesday with a groin strain, but 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.”

Ferguson also revealed that Edwin van der Sar and Rafael Da Silva were both nearing full fitness after a broken finger and shoulder surgery respectively, although neither man is in contention to face Sunderland at Old Trafford tomorrow evening.

• Berbatov admits he was ‘disappointed in myself’ last season
• Striker says he must score more goals and win over fans

Dimitar Berbatov has admitted that he failed to live up to his own expectations during his first year at Manchester United. The striker scored 11 goals in 34 league games last season following his £30.75m move from Tottenham Hotspur and believes he may have put himself under too much pressure at times.

“In my first year I was disappointed in myself. I need to say that,” Berbatov said in an interview with the Sun. “It was a big pressure for me and maybe I failed myself. I think I wanted to prove myself to these supporters.

“You must remember, they are used to Best, Charlton, Cantona. I am just Dimitar. I got a number of assists, but I must score more goals.

“I don’t know what I am doing wrong sometimes. Maybe it’s luck, maybe it’s me … who knows? At nights I have stayed awake thinking: ‘You could have done this instead.’ My nerves were too much and that is my responsibility.”

Berbatov defended himself against accusations of laziness, claiming that by the end of last season he was fourth on the team for distance covered on the pitch and acknowledging that he can be “a bit of a nerd” when it comes to checking such statistics. Nevertheless, he said it was his own fault if supporters perceived him that way.

“That is my fault, not theirs,” he said. “It is me who must change. “Manchester United are their club. They have treated me perfectly since I came.”

After scoring his second goal of the season during United’s 2-0 win over Stoke on Saturday, Berbatov believes he has been in better form this year.

“I am more pleased with my overall game in this second season already,” he said. “I feel that I have integrated myself better into the team. I am much stronger, much fitter. But I still wish I could score more.”

• Birth of child comes first for Manchester United striker
• ‘But if everything goes to plan I will be there in Moscow’

Wayne Rooney has revealed that he is prepared to miss Manchester United’s Champions League fixture at CSKA Moscow later this month, if it clashes with the birth of his first child.

Rooney and his wife have been told they will become parents on or around 24 October, but with Manchester United well placed in Group B – six points from six – Sir Alex Ferguson will feel his team could deal with the England striker’s absence on 21 October, even though one of the understudies, Michael Owen, has again strained his groin and his availability and fitness would be in question for a match in the freezing Russian capital.

“She is due just after [the game],” Rooney said after helping his team get past Wolfsburg. “Of course it’s a long way, but I have a job to go and play for United and unless anything changes, I will be there [in Moscow].

“Of course I want to be here for the birth of my child, and if anything happens around that time then I am sure I will stay back. But if everything is going to plan then I will be there playing for United because that’s my job and that’s what I am paid to do.”

Rooney played for the full 90 minutes against Wolfsburg and with Dimitar Berbatov for 70 of them after Owen was replaced and, although neither man found the net, they appeared to strike up a better understanding than has been the case and looked a more potent combination than usual. “Yes, it’s coming along,” Rooney said. “I think [Dimitar] has had some unfair criticism. Sometimes in his body language it doesn’t look like he is working hard, but he is. He is a fantastic player and he showed some great touchestonight and is doing great things for us.”

Like the manager, Rooney also feels that Manchester United have had some unfair criticism as they adapt to life without Cristiano Ronaldo and his supply of goals, with Rooney leading the attack and Ryan Giggs back on free-kick duty. “We are playing different football now. Last season the team was based a lot around Cristiano and this year players are chipping in with goals. He has scored two again tonight [for Real Madrid] and I am not surprised.

“At the start of the season we were not playing as well, but we have won every game since Burnley [a 1-0 defeat] and yet this week we still get criticised. That’s always going to happen at a club like this. We have bounced back really well and are top of the league.”

Top of Group B, too, and supremely confident of making the knockout stages for a 13th season out of 14, although the match referee’s report mentioned the fact that a United fan invaded the pitch in the second half – their second such in three games following the Craig Bellamy incident in the derby – and that could lead to a fine from Uefa.

• Tomasz Kuszczak started last night’s win over Wolfsburg
• Ferguson says Foster needed support after derby

Ben Foster has been assured that he will start against Sunderland this weekend by the Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Foster was heavily criticised for his performance during United’s 4-3 win over Manchester City earlier this month, leading to speculation that Ferguson would drop him in favour of the Poland international Tomasz Kuszczak, who performed creditably on his first appearance of the season against Wolves in the Carling Cup.

Ferguson initially stood by Foster and was rewarded with a clean sheet at Stoke last weekend, but Kuszczak was in goal for last night’s 2-1 win over the German champions Wolfsburg. But while Foster was denied an opportunity to impress the watching England coach, Fabio Capello, yesterday, he will get another chance on Saturday, as Capello is due back at Old Trafford 24 hours before he names his squad for the final two World Cup qualifying games against Ukraine and Belarus.

“Tomasz Kuszczak produced a very good performance against Wolves last week and we felt he deserved to play another game,” said Ferguson. “It wasn’t going to be last Saturday, though, because we had to give Ben some support after that difficult game against Manchester City.

“It was a good opportunity for us to play Tomasz tonight but Ben will play on Saturday.”

Ferguson also feels last night’s match-winner Michael Carrick is beginning to find his feet after a slow start to the season. Carrick had been so sporadically used that some speculated he had fallen foul of Ferguson but the midfielder produced his best performance of the season at Old Trafford, capping a fine display by curling home the winner 12 minutes from time.

“It won’t do Michael any harm to score,” said Ferguson. “That applies to all players but he really did enjoy himself. We think he is generally slow to start the season for us.

“It has been that way since he came to the club. It is normally around October when he starts to get into his stride and we are seeing that again.”

• Groin injury set to sideline striker for ‘two to three weeks’
• Manchester United manager singles out goalscorers for praise

Sir Alex Ferguson’s satisfaction about Manchester United’s recovery from a goal down against a strong and ambitious Wolfsburg side was tempered by Michael Owen’s first breakdown to injury since his free transfer in the summer.

Owen had to be withdrawn 19 minutes into a match that had brought Fabio Capello to Old Trafford to judge whether the striker deserved to be restored to England’s squad for the forthcoming games against Ukraine and Belarus.

Owen had been troubled by a groin injury that had stopped him from taking a full part in the previous two days’ training and, in hindsight, Ferguson may regret gambling on the player’s fitness. Owen could miss United’s next two league matches, against Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers, as well as their next Champions League tie, a trip to Russia to play CSKA Moscow on 21 October.

Kevin McCarra’s match report: Manchester United 2-1 Wolfsburg
Daniel Taylor: United’s air of invincibility prevails
Read Rob Smyth’s minute-by-minute report
More news and opinion on Manchester United

“Groin injuries are difficult to assess but it is maybe going to be two to three weeks,” Ferguson said. “He felt his groin in training on Sunday and could train only a little bit on Monday. He had a rest on Tuesday and he thought he was fine. But groins are groins and on a wet surface likethat he’s turned quickly, it has gone again and we’ve had to take him off. It’s not serious, but groin injuries can be troublesome.”

Ferguson made the rather strange assessment that he was not worried about Owen’s injury record because “his fitness levels are very good” but it took the gloss off an evening in which Ryan Giggs scored his 150th goal for the club – provided United’s longest-serving player is credited with the deflected free-kick that drew the game level at 1-1.

Giggs did not even realise he had reached that milestone and talked of it being a “poor free-kick” but Ferguson spoke effusively about the player’s enduring contribution.

“The incredible thing is that he retains this youthfulness in his performances. It’s as if he’s just starting his career for the club. I don’t know how many more plaudits you can give him but he’s just continuing like a young man and enjoying his football. All the superlatives and praise he has had over the years, there is nothing to add to it. He’s marvellous, the boy.”

Ferguson was also encouraged by Michael Carrick’s most impressive performance this season, culminating in the midfielder scoring a splendid winner. “He really did enjoy himself tonight. We always think he’s been a bit slow to start the season since he came to us. It’s always been around October before he has got into his stride – and I think we saw him do that tonight.”

Wolfsburg had taken the lead through Edin Dzeko and their coach, Armin Veh, described his team as “unlucky to lose”. “I’m annoyed. It’s no good praising the performance if we didn’t get the result,” he said. “We could have done better.”

Ferguson was impressed with the German champions, particularly Dzeko and his strike partner, Grafite. “In assessing Wolfsburg, it’s quite simple: the front two are a handful and very difficult to play against, particularly Dzeko, who was excellent. Dealing with that threat isn’t easy but we got through that and got the victory.”

Tomasz Kuszczak was preferred in goal but Ben Foster will return for Saturday’s game against Sunderland. “Kuszczak had a very good performance last week against Wolves [in the Carling Cup] and we thought he deserved another game,” Ferguson explained. “It wasn’t going to be last Saturday [at Stoke City] because we felt we must give support to Ben after he had a difficult game against Manchester City. This was a good opportunity to play Kuszczak but Ben will play on Saturday.”

• Ronaldo suffers as a result of his fashion image, Evra claims
• ‘He likes teasing people … in fact he’s a bit like Beckham’

Manchester United’s left-back Patrice Evra has defended his former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, claiming the Portuguese forward is portrayed unjustly by the media.

Ronaldo has had a fantastic start to his Real Madrid career, scoring seven goals in six games since his world-record £80m transfer. “He’s not arrogant,” Evra told L’Equipe. “He suffers as a result of his image as a fashion guy but honestly, he’s the greatest professional I have ever trained with.

“He never has enough of it. This lad has to be first everywhere in everything. If you play ping-pong with him he can’t stand losing. And in life he’s really a good guy. He’s calm, he loves joking around, he really likes teasing people … In fact he’s a bit like [David] Beckham.

“He’s driven. They don’t give themselves the right to make mistakes.”

Evra also dismissed accusations Ronaldo goes down too easily following tackles. “There has also been a lot of fouls against him which were never given because of his reputation.

“When you look at the tackles he gets each game, well quite frankly the lad has reason to dive … if not he would break himself. After OK, he reacts badly. We also used to tease him.”

Evra spent three-and-a-half years with Ronaldo at Old Trafford and says the Portuguese altered as he became more well known. “Yes he changed. At the end he had even more hunger, trained even more.

“Because he needed to be the best. I don’t know if he will act at Real. At United no one plays the star. When you’re with people such as Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes, legends of this club, you can’t. It’s impossible.”

• Fan who invaded pitch said he just wanted to celebrate
• ‘Actions could have caused a full-scale pitch invasion’

A man who was shoved in the face by the Manchester City striker Craig Bellamy after running on to the pitch was banned from attending football matches for three years today.

Jake Clarke, 21, from Chorley, Lancashire, admitted entering the playing area at Old Trafford during Manchester United’s 4-3 victory over City. Bellamy confronted Clarke after the solo pitch invasion, which came at the end of a highly-charged game on 20 September.

The bricklayer, who had to be restrained by four stewards, told officers he “got over-excited” and “just wanted to celebrate with the players” after the United substitute Michael Owen had scored a last-gasp winner. Clarke, who has previous convictions for cannabis possession and common assault, told Trafford magistrates’ court that he “deeply regrets” his behaviour. He said: “I’m gutted about what I have done. I know it was a stupid action. I just wanted to celebrate.”

The court heard that Clarke was leaving the ground when Owen scored deep into injury-time, and the fan was pushed towards the pitch before he decided to enter the field of play.

Steve Woodman, prosecuting, showed CCTV footage of the incident, and said that Manchester United were considering imposing their own ban on the football fan. Manchester City could have equalised if it had not been for Clarke, Mr Woodman suggested.

“The defendant’s actions could well have caused a full-scale pitch invasion,” he said. “It will have been viewed by millions across the world. It was a very tense, very high-profile match. The game went right down to the wire.

“The City players were trying to get back to the centre circle to respond to the late goal. City may well have been able to push on and score the equaliser,” he said.

Police are not investigating Bellamy’s part in the incident but he has been warned by the Football Association. Ian Huggan, defending, said football was a large part of Clarke’s life and he attended around 40 games a season. He asked the court not to impose a ban on his client, saying: “Is it right that this defendant is made subject to a banning order when the player who took the action is just given a warning?”

But Anne Marie Evans, the chair of the magistrates’s bench, decided to ban Clarke from all football matches for three years, and imposed a fine of £305. “Your actions could have resulted in disorder and possible violence,” she said.

• Manchester United manager defends ‘flawed’ format
• ‘All competitions have to have a starting point’

Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, has rejected criticism of the Champions League.

Although the Uefa president Michel Platini has attempted to inject some life into the group stages of the competition by widening the number of countries who have an interest, many still believe the format is flawed.

With England providing three semi-finalists in each of the last three seasons, a sense of predictability has surrounded Europe’s most prestigious club competition. Indeed, with the exception of 2004 when José Mourinho’s Porto defeated Monaco, the only countries who have supplied finalists in the last 13 years are England, Spain, Italy and Germany.

Some feel the answer is to revert back to the old system of only league winners from each country being eligible. Others feel the present method of seeding teams should be scrapped. There is an even more radical argument that the entire tournament should be abandoned in favour of an even more elite European league.

Yet Ferguson feels the criticism is wide of the mark. “I do not agree the preliminaries are meaningless and simply a money-making exercise,” he told United Review. “People are arguing that the big clubs always come through and that the seeded fixtures are a waste of time.

“Obviously the group games are not as dramatic as the knockout final stage, but the critics are missing the point. The group system is a league. All sports competitions have a starting point that includes the minnows, from the FA Cup to Wimbledon in tennis, or the Open in golf.

“You can’t start with the FA Cup final, or Wimbledon final and cut out the competitive build-up.”

Last night’s results could be used to both prove and disprove the theory. Losing to Fiorentina in Italy has put Liverpool’s presence in the knockout stage in doubt yet, in the same group, Lyon scored four times in Budapest against Debrecen, one of the teams who benefited directly from Platini’s revision of the qualifying stages.

Mourinho’s Internazionale are also outside the automatic qualifying slots, although it would be a major surprise if that situation still existed when the group stage was completed in December.

“The better teams invariably come out on top in the end but not before some heart-stopping moments,” added Ferguson, “and I am sure the smaller clubs welcome the chance of going for glory, even if the odds are stacked against them.”

• Midfielder could return to football training in 10 days
• ‘I am very pleased with his progress,’ says Alex Ferguson

Owen Hargreaves has made a positive start to his Manchester United comeback bid. After more than 12 months on the sidelines following ground-breaking surgery on both knees to combat a tendinitis problem, Hargreaves has now returned to United’s Carrington training complex.

The midfielder, who has been beset by the condition since before his £18m move from Bayern Munich, is currently in the middle of a handover process between his US-based physio, who has guided his rehabilitation so far, and the United medical staff.

Once that is complete, Hargreaves should be able to continue his recovery programme at Carrington and begin football training within a couple of weeks. If that goes well, the 28-year-old may be fit enough to play again in November.

Sir Alex Ferguson is acutely aware these are early days for Hargreaves, who could yet force his way into Fabio Capello’s World Cup plans. However, the United manager confirmed Hargreaves’ development is currently going according to plan.

“Owen is doing very well,” he said. “Obviously he is delighted to be back because it has been such a long time and I am very pleased with his progress. We will probably get him into football training in 10 days’ time and depending on how well he does he should be back at the beginning of November.”

• United can provide the platform for World Cup
• Striker cannot remember goal against City

Michael Owen has not given up on playing for England at next summer’s World Cup finals after being told “we are watching you” by Fabio Capello’s right-hand man.

The striker believes playing for a struggling Newcastle side, which ended last season relegated to the Championship, hampered his chances under the Italian but he remains hopeful that his summer move to Manchester United will give him the stage to impress. “He came to Highbury to watch [Newcastle] one time – I think I had five touches in the game,” Owen said.

“Then, I was coming back from injury. So there are reasons why he wouldn’t pick me so far. Yes, I have to play a bit more. I am sure with the number of games we have got, so many cup competitions, I will start my fair share.

“Capello has never talked to me about the situation. I met him after the Community Shield. I was getting on to the coach. He was coming down to get in his car to leave. He was there with Franco Baldini [Capello’s assistant].

“Franco saw me and gave me the thumbs up. I walked over and shook both of their hands. Franco said, ‘How are you? Are you feeling fit?’ I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I’m feeling fine.’ ‘Good luck, we’ll keep watching you.’”

Owen’s cause cannot have been harmed by his match-winning performance in the recent derby against Manchester City. The former Liverpool striker ensured a lasting place in United fans’ hearts after coming off the bench to score the decisive goal in the fifth minute of injury time but his own recollections of the moment are hazy. “It is like you lose consciousness for a bit, the kick that you get from the adrenalin,” he said.

“You can count on one hand the occasions when you actually just lose it. You have to go home and think, ‘What did I do for 10, 15 seconds there?’ To score a goal, such a dramatic goal, against your arch rivals, I don’t need to build it up, but it did a lot for me.”

And Owen is confident there will be more celebrations to come as he revels in the quality surrounding him at United. “A player like me, I freely admit, I rely on team-mates. I am better in a better team. It sounds stupid, but I could name six players who are better in a poorer team. They would almost get shown up. They are more physical, they don’t like the ball to feet, they haven’t got the sense of where the ball is going to come.”

It was that sense of movement, coupled with his confidence in the class of his United team-mates, that allowed Owen to make the space for the winning goal against City. “If a corner gets cleared and the defence is squeezing out, I am not just jogging back. I am monitoring where the back four are, where the space is,” he said.

“Against City, it was a classic situation where the ball is cleared and I knew there was no one behind me. It could have taken an eye-through-a-needle pass, but, because there’s no right-back there, because he’s tucked in, I thought I can make Giggsy’s pass as easy as possible for him by pulling out as far as I could. So I’m back-pedalling as quick as possible. And as soon as Giggsy claps eyes on me, he’s on with the pass.

“The first touch, that’s the thing that obviously makes the goal. You will always hear people in the game, even my dad, talk about your first touch. It was obviously a nice goal, but it was made much easier first by a fantastic ball and also that I couldn’t have placed it in a better position.”

That he is surrounded by players such as Giggs, Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes is all the more pleasing given how unlikely such an outcome seemed in the summer, when Hull City at one time seemed his most likely destination. “I was at a dead end but I thought, ‘A road will open up. I just know it will. It has to. Surely it has to. Surely there is someone who needs a striker that can score goals, who has done it in the Premiership,’” he said.

Then Alex Ferguson called. “The manager’s voice is pretty distinctive,” Owen said, “so I knew it wasn’t a wind-up. He said, ‘We are looking for a striker. I’m going to be up front, we went for [Karim] Benzema and once that was a no-go we looked around for players who are going to score goals.

“Obviously the big question is if you are fit, but if you are and we can get plenty of games, then words to the effect that it’s a no-brainer. Anyway, there’s no point in talking on the phone, we’ll chat about it tomorrow if you are free and fancy coming round.’

“I had a few butterflies before I went there. I listened more than I talked, which I thought was pretty wise. He said, ‘I know what has happened over the past few years, I know you haven’t lost anything, you are only 29, for crying out loud.’ I wasn’t sure if we were just going to chat, but then I realised, ‘Oh my God, he definitely wants to sign me.’”

Whether the move leads to a place in the England squad now depends on Owen, and Capello.

• 29-year-old insists he has lost none of the pace he had at 21
• ‘I’ve not so much dropped down a step as fallen off the map’

Michael Owen has spoken of his frustration at being excluded by Fabio Capello from recent England squads, insisting that he has lost none of the pace and ability that made him a mainstay of the England side for much of the past decade.

“I am not slower now than I was seven, eight years ago, no chance,” Owen told the Times. “With the hamstring problems early in my career, they knocked a yard off my pace straight away, but since then I have been the same player and if anything I have improved.

“People think I’m past my 30s, I’m in my 40s, the way they talk about me,” he continued. “I’m only 29. I’m not past it. It’s not an easy squad to get into with the results the team are getting at the minute. But I’m as passionate as ever about extending my time with England.”

Owen’s last England appearance came in a friendly against France in March 2008. Asked about how he has felt after recent squad announcements, he said: “The first time was the hardest, the second time was the second hardest, the third time … it is still hard. It has probably caused a stir because it used to be as soon as I was fit, I was back in. Now it’s not like I have dropped down a step but fallen off the map.”

Owen also described the moment he first discovered that Sir Alex Ferguson was interested in signing him for Manchester United – when Nicky Butt, the former United midfielder now at Newcastle, revealed that his former manager had been on the phone. The next day, it was Owen himself who received a phone call. “The manager’s voice is pretty distinctive, so I knew it wasn’t a wind-up,” he said.

• Manchester City striker will celebrate goals against United
• Argentinian hopes West Ham’s fortunes improve

The Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez, whose understated goal celebrations during his side’s last two league games – against his two previous English clubs, Manchester United and West Ham – have brought him widespread praise, has decided that at least one of those clubs has now run out of favour.

While West Ham, the club who first brought him from South America, remain close to his heart, the abuse he received at Old Trafford, where he was booed and a coin, thrown in his direction, hit his team-mate Javier Garrido, mean he no longer holds United in such affection.

“I decided not to celebrate my goals [in City’s 3-1 win on Monday night] out of respect to West Ham. They were my first club in England and, in my heart, part of me will always be a Hammer,” he said. “The professional part of me was really pleased with my first City goals at home but, personally, I would have preferred to beat another club.

“In the derby against United I had also decided not to celebrate our goals [in a 4-3 defeat] but, after the treatment I received from the supporters that day, I have changed my stance on that. If I score in the next derby then I’m sure that I will celebrate.”

West Ham are currently 18th in the Premier League after a disappointing start to the season but the Argentina international, who was speaking to the Daily Mail, is hoping that their results soon improve.

“All I hope is that they don’t suffer all season,” Tevez said. “Their fans were always with me, even in the bad moments. When I was there some players left the club in the January but I didn’t want to say goodbye. So I stayed there and I like to think that my goals helped them to stay up. It was a very emotional time and I think the supporters were always satisfied with what I did. I hope I’ve not damaged them too much now with my two goals.”

Sir Alex Ferguson challenges the 23-year-old to match the world’s top three players

Five years to the week since Wayne Rooney announced his arrival at Manchester United with a Champions League hat-trick against Fenerbahce, the England international will make his 50th European appearance tonight, with Sir Alex Ferguson challenging him to show that he can reach the levels of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká and Lionel Messi.

Rooney has scored seven in nine games for United this season and has noticeably taken on more responsibility since the departure of Ronaldo but Ferguson, though generous in his praise, believes his striker still comes up short. “Kaká, Ronaldo and Messi are the best three at the moment and I think Wayne can get to that level if he keeps making progress,” he said. “That’s the challenge for him now. There are some great players there.”

There are some United supporters who would argue that Rooney already deserves to be considered at that level but Ferguson is mindful of the fact that the 23-year-old has sometimes drifted out of matches. “Wayne has had some fantastic games in Europe and, to be honest, some disappointing games,” he added. “European football is a challenge. These are the best teams and every player has to reach that challenge in the sense of [creating] their stature in the game. It’s not an easy competition.”

By that, Ferguson was highlighting the fact that Ronaldo, Messi and Kaká have flourished in the Champions League whereas Rooney has been more erratic. In total, he has scored 16 European goals going into the game at home to Wolfsburg, the German champions regarded by Ferguson as “probably the main danger to qualifying”.

However, Ferguson also pointed out that Rooney is still not in his peak years. The United manager remembered Rooney’s debut, in a 6-2 win, as a “remarkable feat”, not least as the player had been injured and not played for 10 weeks. “His progress has at no point disappointed us,” he said. “When we signed him as a kid we thought he would become a really top player and he is going in that direction, without question. He is blessed with certain ingredients that only great players have. He has that hunger and determination.

“Roy Keane, Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce – we have had countless players with that great desire. These players want to win every match and every training session. Wayne is blessed with that and that will never change. He is blessed because these are wonderful things to take into a game these days. You sometimes wonder about the criticism about the money players get but then when you look at the amount of effort Wayne puts into his work then he is worth every penny. He plays as if he means it and it’s a wonderful thing to have.”

Rooney is benefiting from an extended run in the central attacking position but Ferguson believes there are other reasons behind the player’s maturing performances, most notably his marriage in June 2008. “Marriage helps footballers,” the manager said. “I have always thought that. I am an advocate of that [marriage] because it helps them settle down.”

Having beaten Besiktas at the Inonu stadium in Istanbul 15 days ago, United go into tonight in a position of strength in Group B. Ferguson, however, is not sure if Michael Owen will be available, the striker having missed training for two days with a groin problem. He has been impressed by what he has seen of Wolfsburg. “The most amazing thing is that if you look at the history of German football over the last umpteen years then you will find that Wolfsburg haven’t even figured. The fact they won it [the Bundesliga] last season and the goals they scored is amazing.”

Wolfsburg have two outstanding strikers, the Bosnian Edin Dzeko and the Brazilian Grafite. Between them they managed 71 goals last season, including 54 in 34 league games, breaking the Bundesliga record set by Gerd Müller and Uli Hoeness for Bayern Munich 36 years ago. “It’s an incredible total,” Ferguson said. “So they do score goals, but they also lose them. Even their game at the weekend was 4–2 so they do have interesting matches. But they are positive and we admire that. Their beliefs are the same as ours and it could turn out to be a very open game.”

United are likely to be without Park Ji-sung, who has been suffering from a virus, but Ferguson reported that Patrice Evra should be available despite feeling unwell since the win at Stoke City that put them top of the Premier League.

How the ‘big four’ compare in the Champions League

Wayne Rooney

Games 48 Goals 16

Made a thrilling Champions League debut aged 18, scoring a hat-trick in a 6-2 demolition of Fenerbahce. Five subsequent seasons have seen Rooney play in various positions across the front line. Failed to make much impression in his two finals in 2008 and 2009. When it comes to individual awards has yet to add to his BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award in 2002

Kaká Games 53 Goals 22

Fifa world player of the year in 2007 and a £68.5m transfer to Real Madrid from Milan in the summer. Kaká joined Milan in 2003 and dominated the first half of the the 2005 Champions League final as Milan went into a 3-0 lead before losing on penalties. Two years later Kaká finished as top scorer in the competition with 10 goals as Milan beat Liverpool in the final

Cristiano Ronaldo Games 56 Goals 18

A Champions League winner along with Rooney in 2008, scoring the first goal against Chelsea in the final, but missing his penalty in the shoot-out. Has a trophy cabinet groaning with personal gongs: including two football writers’ player of the year awards, a brace of PFA player of the years, the Ballon d’Or for 2008 and the Fifa world player for 2008. Notably versatile, scoring in Europe from both wings and in the centre. One black mark: a petulant and ineffective display in last season’s final against Barcelona

Lionel Messi Games 30 Goals 17

By a distance the player of last season’s Champions League, right, top scorer with nine goals and a goal in the final against United. Already looks a shoo-in for this season’s European and world player trophies. A year younger than Rooney and Ronaldo but already perhaps the most feared player in Europe Barney Ronay

• Serbian defender wants to avoid repeat of final defeat
• Says United are ’still not in best form’

Nemanja Vidic believes the experience of losing a Champions League final will drive Manchester United to do better this season. United play the German champions, Wolfsburg, at Old Trafford tomorrow in the second round of matches in Group B.

“It is a very bad feeling when you go to a final and lose and that one is a particularly bad memory,” said Vidic of United’s defeat by Barcelona in May. “You do have to acknowledge it is better to get to the final and lose than not be there at all and that to stand up you need to sit. But it is hard. We all know how we felt. We need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

United have won seven matches in a row, suggesting a balance has been found following the loss in the summer of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.

“Ronaldo and Tevez are quality players, there is no question about that,” Vidic said. “But it is hard to say whether we have got over losing them. We will probably only know that at the end of the season.

“If we don’t win trophies, people will say it is because they have gone, although that is not necessarily the case. At the moment we are doing well. We have had the best start in the four years I have been here. There is no question we have quality players but, for me, the really encouraging sign is that we are still not in the best form.

“You don’t want to be at your highest level at this stage. We have to be ready for the most important games at the end.”

When Ronaldo made his world record £80m move to Real Madrid, more attention was focused on Wayne Rooney.

“It is wrong that people are suddenly looking at Wayne,” Vidic said. “He has always been an important player for us so, in that sense, nothing has changed. Sometimes he does things the fans don’t see because he is doing a job for the team.

“This year he is even more noticeable because he is scoring goals and has a different role in the team. But we don’t need to put pressure on him. We know all about his ability.”

• ‘In football we have become too sensitive,’ says Neville
• United defender says rivals’ rise is good for Manchester

Gary Neville has accused football of becoming “too sensitive” over goal celebrations after the controversy surrounding Emmanuel Adebayor’s reaction to scoring for Manchester City against Arsenal and his own response to Manchester United’s winner in last weekend’s derby.

Neville was accused of goading City supporters after Michael Owen’s dramatic injury-time winner at Old Trafford. That followed Adebayor running the length of the field to celebrate in front of Arsenal fans after he had scored against his former club earlier this month.

“In football we have become too sensitive,” Neville told the Daily Telegraph. “You celebrate a goal because you are winning a football match. Fans give you loads of stick. You give them a bit back. That is football.”

Neville has been warned over his behaviour by the Football Association, which has charged Adebayor with improper conduct for his celebration.

Asked whether he understood what Adebayor did, Neville said: “You would have to ask him his motives but all I can say is that my motives are passion and winning. To be honest, we have lost games at the last minute. I have been to Man City and given goals away and you get abused for it. That is fine. It is part and parcel of the game.”

He also acknowledged City as a growing threat: “They will be up there and pushing for the top four and that is not bad for Manchester. They have good players and it is good for the city that we have two big clubs – as long as we are on top, though, because it would not be good playing for United when City came out on top. Definitely not.”

Neville added that he would decide in the new year whether to continue beyond this season. “I have given it one last go to see if I can have a season injury-free but my decision will depend on how I feel going into the new year and how the club feel. They have others and may not want this option next season.”

• Hargreaves has returned from treatment in America
• Midfielder is yet to kick a ball in training

Owen Hargreaves could return to the Manchester United squad within four weeks. The midfielder has been out of action for a year after deciding to undergo operations on both knees in an effort to solve his tendinitis problems.

Hargreaves has undertaken all his rehabilitation work in the US so far under the guidance of the renowned knee surgeon Dr Richard Steadman. However, he returned to United’s Carrington training complex earlier this week to take the next major step in his bid for recovery.

Hargreaves has not done any ball work yet and Sir Alex Ferguson does not expect him to for a short while as the club’s medical staff complete a handover that will take the 28-year-old back into their care. But the Manchester United manager is optimistic that, if all goes to plan, Hargreaves could be back on the pitch next month.

“I feel it will still take us four weeks to get him into the rhythm of training again and get to the point of match play,” Ferguson said. “Normally, when a player has been out for that length of time he is helped by the fact he is doing his rehabilitation with other players.

“Because he did it on his own in the USA, under the guidance of Dr Richard Steadman, it is not easy. But he has the determination and resilience to see it through. He is now back with us and hopefully the boy gets a break and continues his progress without any further mishaps.”

As this kind of operation is still quite rare, there must be some doubt over Hargreaves’s chances of making a full recovery, or getting back to the level that led to him winning 42 caps for England, the last of which came against the USA in May last year.

But Ferguson has taken comfort from the growing number of players that have come back from formerly career-threatening cruciate knee ligament surgery, the latest being Chelsea’s Joe Cole.

“We don’t see the fact he has been out a year as a handicap,” Ferguson said. “Other players have been out a similar length of time. When Joe Cole came back on Wednesday you forget he was missing for nine months. It is achievable, particularly when they are young.

“He is not kicking a ball yet. The physio who attended to him over there will stay here for a week for the changeover. He and our physios are discussing exactly at what stage he is at but he should be into football training quite soon.”

• Tomasz Kuszczak had been tipped to replace Foster
• Van der Sar will be out for another three weeks

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Ben Foster will keep his place in the Manchester United goal at Stoke City tomorrow despite his shaky performance against Manchester City last weekend being the latest in a series of unconvincing displays.

Tomasz Kuszczak had been tipped to step in for his first Premier League start of the season after he kept a clean sheet in the Carling Cup win over Wolves. However, Ferguson has been quick to give Foster a public vote of confidence, insisting he will play at the Britannia Stadium.

“It was a good opportunity for Tomasz to play on Wednesday but Ben will play tomorrow,” the United manager said. “Ben has not had a lot of game experience but he will be OK.”

Meanwhile, Ferguson added that he expects his first-choice goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar, to be out for another three weeks. The veteran Dutchman suffered two broken fingers in a pre-season game against Bayern Munich in July and was immediately consigned to a couple of months on the sidelines. Now Ferguson has revealed he does not expect Van der Sar to be back in action until after the next international break.

“We still feel he is three weeks away,” said Ferguson, who reported no new injuries following his side’s last two games.

• Nigel Reo-Coker returns after training ground bust-up
• Ben Foster keeps his place in the Manchester United team

Birmingham City v Bolton Wanderers (3pm)

Birmingham will be boosted by the return of four players after injury for the home tie with Bolton. Sebastian Larsson, Stephen Carr, Gregory Vignal and Lee Carsley are all available again.

In addition, Teemu Tainio could return after being ineligible for the midweek Carling Cup match with Sunderland.

The Birmingham manager, Alex McLeish, has to decide whether to pair Christian Benítez and Garry O’Connor up front after they impressed in the second half at Hull last weekend.

Bolton’s midfielder Sean Davis could miss the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery. Davis suffered an articular cartilage injury to his right knee during the 3-2 home defeat against Liverpool on 29 August.

The club’s manager Gary Megson has no other fresh concerns as his side seek to record their second Premier League victory of the campaign against Birmingham.

Birmingham (from): Hart, Taylor, Tainio, Carsley, Vignal, Carr, Larsson, Parnaby, Dann, Johnson, McSheffrey, Bowyer, Ferguson, Fahey, Espinoza, Phillips, Sammons, O’Connor, Benítez.

Bolton (from): Jaaskelainen, Al Habsi, Ricketts, Steinsson, Knight, Cahill, O’Brien, Samuel, Robinson, M Davies, Muamba, Cohen, McCann, Gardner, Taylor, K Davies, Klasnic, Elmander, Chung-Yong.

Blackburn Rovers v Aston Villa (3pm)

The defender Gaël Givet is Sam Allardyce’s only injury worry ahead of Blackburn’s game against Aston Villa. Givet picked up a knee injury in the defeat at Everton last Sunday but, while he is not expected to have recovered in time for the weekend’s game, he should be back to face Arsenal the following week.

Allardyce made 10 changes for the Carling Cup win over Nottingham Forest and, with all those players coming through unscathed, several could come into consideration for the Villa game.

Lars Jacobsen is in contention to return to the Rovers defence having missed last week’s league fixture after his wife gave birth. El Hadji Diouf will be considered for selection despite an ongoing police investigation into allegations he racially abused a ball boy at Goodison Park.

Nigel Reo-Coker will return to the Aston Villa squad after a two-game absence for the game.

Reo-Coker did not feature against Portsmouth last weekend or Cardiff in the Carling Cup in midweek after a training ground bust-up with the manager, Martin O’Neill.

Steve Sidwell is again ruled out with a thigh strain but the winger Ashley Young (calf) and the striker Emile Heskey (ankle) are expected to be fit to play.

Stephen Warnock returns to Blackburn for the first time since making the switch to Villa shortly before the summer transfer window closed.

Blackburn (from): Robinson, Salgado, Samba, Nelsen, Chimbonda, Diouf, Andrews, Grella, Pedersen, Dunn, Roberts, Brown, Jacobsen, Nzonzi, Emerton, Hoilett, Kalinic, McCarthy, Reid, Di Santo, Olsson, Jones.

Aston Villa (from): Friedel, Guzan, Shorey, Beye, Cuéllar, Warnock, Gardner, Collins, Dunne, Milner, Delph, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Young, Heskey, Carew, Agbonlahor, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Clark.

Fulham v Arsenal (5.30pm)

Fulham’s manager Roy Hodgson is likely to make several changes for the home match against Arsenal.

Hodgson made 11 changes for the loss at Manchester City in midweek but Zoltan Gera may retain his place in the starting line up after scoring the 25-yard screamer which put the Cottagers ahead.

Simon Davies suffered a setback from his foot injury during the game at Eastlands and will be unavailable while Erik Nevland, Andrew Johnson (shoulder) and Toni Kallio (achilles) also miss out.

Arsenal’s playmaker Andrey Arshavin returns from a groin injury for the game at Craven Cottage.

The England winger Theo Walcott has recovered from a side strain and is available again - but the goalkeeper Manuel Almunia is still troubled by the chest infection so Vito Mannone could continue in his place.

Denílson (back), Samir Nasri (leg), Lukasz Fabianski (knee) and Johan Djourou (knee) remain out.

Fulham (from): Zuberbühler, Schwarzer, Stockdale, Conches, Stoor, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Kelly, Baird, Smalling, Andranik, Duff, Riise, Dempsey, Etuhu, Greening, Kamara, Zamora, Seol, E Johnson, Elm, Dikgacoi.

Arsenal (from): Mannone, Clichy, Gallas, Vermaelen, Sagna, Song, Diaby, Fábregas, Rosicky, Van Persie, Bendtner, Szczesny, Eboué, Eduardo, Silvestre, Ramsey, Gibbs, Wilshere, Arshavin, Walcott.

Liverpool v Hull City (3pm)

Ther Liverpool defender Andrea Dossena and midfielder Alberto Aquilani are the only two absentees from the club’s manager Rafael Benítez’s squad to face Hull. Dossena injured a groin in the midweek Carling Cup victory at Leeds while Aquilani, who has yet to make his debut since a £20m move from Roma in August, has stepped up his rehabilitation and has started running again.

Benítez will revert to his strongest line-up tomorrow, having fielded a second-string side at Elland Road.

Hull’s defender Anthony Gardner could be back in contention for the trip to Liverpool. Gardner has been out for the past month with a knee injury but will travel to Anfield with the rest of the squad.

Ibrahima Sonko is also available after being cup-tied for the midweek Carling Cup defeat to Everton, Jimmy Bullard (knee) is making encouraging progress but is not yet ready to feature while Steven Mouyokolo (hamstring) is still sidelined. The youngsters Tom Cairney and Liam Cooper could play a part after impressing against Everton.

Liverpool (from): Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Insúa, Aurélio, Benayoun, Mascherano, Gerrard, Lucas, Babel, Kuyt, Torres, Riera, Cavalieri, Agger, Ngog, Voronin, Spearing.

Hull City (from): Myhill, Gardner, Dawson, Mendy, Marney, Olofinjana, Hunt, Boateng, Barmby, Ghilas, Geovanni, Zayatte, Cousin, Halmosi, Kilbane, Altidore, Fagan, Cairney, Cooper, McShane, Vennegoor of Hesselink, Sonko, Duke, Warner.

Portsmouth v Everton (12.45am)

Portsmouth’s manager, Paul Hart, could hand a long-awaited debut to their defender Steve Finnan in the lunchtime game with Everton. The Irishman has been struggling with a hamstring injury since his move from Espanyol over the summer, but he came through a friendly behind closed doors this week.

Hart is still waiting for Papa Bouba Diop and Hermann Hreidarsson to recover from their hamstring and foot injuries respectively, while Aruna Dindane may not start as he continues his fight for fitness.

David Moyes will assess the fitness of his striker Yakubu Ayegbeni before making a decision on whether to include him in tomorrow’s squad to face Portsmouth. The Nigeria international, who missed most of last season with a ruptured achilles tendon, scored in Everton’s midweek Carling Cup victory at Hull but came off with a groin problem.

The midfielder Steven Pienaar (foot) and the defender Joseph Yobo (hamstring) will also have late fitness tests.

Portsmouth (from): James, Kaboul, Mokoena, Mullins, Utaka, Kanu, Begovic, Basinas, Belhadj, Vanden Borre, Piquionne, Smith, O’Hara, Brown, Boateng, Ben Haim, Williamson, Yebda, Dindane, Finnan, Webber.

Everton (from): Howard, Yobo, Baines, Distin, Hibbert, Heitinga, Neill, Cahill, Rodwell, Pienaar, Osman, Yakubu, Jô, Fellaini, Nash, Bilyaletdinov, Vaughan, Gosling.

Stoke City v Manchester United (3pm)

The Stoke strikers Ricardo Fuller and James Beattie are both doubtful for the match against Manchester United at the Britannia Stadium. Fuller suffered a groin problem in the Carling Cup victory over Blackpool while Beattie is struggling with a recurrence of an ankle injury.

The club’s manager Tony Pulis could recall Richard Cresswell to the attack to partner Dave Kitson.

Ben Foster will start in goal for Manchester United at Stoke tomorrow after being given a public vote of confidence by Sir Alex Ferguson. Tomasz Kuszczak had been hoping to get the nod after keeping a clean sheet against Wolves in midweek but Foster will return as the deputy for Edwin van der Sar (broken fingers), who is out for another three weeks.

Plenty of changes are anticipated from midweek, with Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra among those certain to be recalled.

Stoke (from): Sorensen, Simonsen, Huth, Wilkinson, Shawcross, Faye, Collins, Delap, Whitehead, Whelan, Etherington, Fuller, Beattie, Kitson, Cresswell, Cort, Higginbotham, Griffin, Lawrence, Pugh, Tuncay.

Manchester United (from): Foster, Kuszczak, Neville, O’Shea, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Fabio, Valencia, Anderson, Carrick, Fletcher, Gibson, Giggs, Nani, Rooney, Berbatov, Owen.

Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley (3pm)

Tottenham’s centre-back Sébastien Bassong will have a late fitness test ahead of the tie with Burnley following the head and knee injuries he suffered against Chelsea last week.

His fellow defenders Ledley King (hamstring) and Jonathan Woodgate (groin) are sidelined for the match at White Hart Lane but Michael Dawson (achilles) is available after playing at Preston in midweek.

Giovani dos Santos (ankle) joins Luka Modric (fractured fibula) and Roman Pavlyuchenko (achilles) in the treatment room.

The Burnley manager Owen Coyle is hoping his goalkeeper, Brian Jensen, will be fit to return to action this weekend . Jensen suffered a dead leg in the 3-2 Carling Cup defeat at Barnsley but should recover in time to reclaim the starting spot from the Peruvian Diego Penny.

The striker David Nugent is back in the squad having been cup-tied for the game at Oakwell but the club captain Steven Caldwell is not ready to return despite training again after suffering groin trouble while Martin Paterson and Chris McCann are out for three months after sustaining knee injuries this week.

Tottenham (from): Gomes, Cudicini, Walker, Hutton, Bassong, Bale, Assou-Ekotto, Corluka, Dervite, Dawson, Bentley, Huddlestone, Lennon, Jenas, Palacios, Naughton, Kranjcar, Rose, Keane, Crouch, Defoe.

Burnley (from): Jensen; Mears, Eckersley, Duff, Carlisle, Bikey, Jordan, Alexander, Fletcher, Elliott, Blake, Thompson, Guerrero, Eagles, Penny, Kalvanes, McDonald, Gudjonsson, Edgar, Rodriguez, Easton, Nugent.

Wigan Athletic v Chelsea (3pm)

The Wigan manager Roberto Martínez has hinted he may make changes for Chelsea’s visit. Last weekend’s 4-0 defeat at Arsenal was one of the worst performances of the Spaniard’s short reign and, with a fully-fit squad at his disposal, a few players could be left out.

The on-loan Chelsea winge, Scott Sinclair, is ineligible against his parent club.

Joe Cole and Yury Zhirkov will be included in Chelsea’s squad. Both successfully overcame their long-term knee injuries to make their comebacks in the midweek Carling Cup victory over Queens Park Rangers.

Didier Drogba is fit after recovering from a bout of cramp but the midfielder Deco (calf) and the defender Alex (groin) will miss out.

Wigan (from): Kirkland, Melchiot, Scharner, Bramble, Figueroa, N’Zogbia, Thomas, Diame, Koumas, Gómez, Rodallega, Edman, Boyce, Cho, Scotland, King, McCarthy, Pollitt.

Chelsea (from): Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Belletti, Bosingwa, Carvalho, Terry, Ivanovic, A Cole, Hutchinson, Borini, Bruma, Lampard, Ballack, Mikel, Kalou, Malouda, Anelka, Drogba, Sturridge, Zhirkov, J Cole, Essien.

Sunderland v Wolverhampton Wanderers (Sunday, 4pm)

The Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole could return from injury for Sunday’s match with Wolves. Cattermole, who has missed the last two games with a heel problem, was expected to train today and Sunderland’s manager Steve Bruce will make a late decision on him.

The full-back George McCartney also has a chance of playing after shaking off a hamstring strain, while the goalkeeper Marton Fulop could make the squad after five games on the sidelines with his own heel injury.

A host of players are set to return for Wolves against Sunderland as their manager Mick McCarthy makes changes from the side which lost to Manchester United in the Carling Cup in midweek.

The on-loan Chelsea defender, Michael Mancienne, who was ineligible to play at Old Trafford, will return while the Irish strikers Kevin Doyle and Andy Keogh could both come into the starting line-up at the expense of Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Stefan Maierhofer.

Wayne Hennessey will return in goal to replace Marcus Hahnemann with Greg Halford taking over from Kevin Foley at right-back. Dave Edwards has also been pencilled in to return for winger Michael Kightly.

Sunderland (from): Gordon, Fulop, Carson, Bardsley, McCartney, Ferdinand, Turner, Nosworthy, Da Silva, Mensah, Cana, Cattermole, Richardson, Reid, Malbranque, Henderson, Bent, Jones, Campbell, Murphy, Healy.

Wolves (from): Hennessey, Hahnemann, Ikeme, Foley, Berra, Mancienne, Zubar, Craddock, Elokobi, Hill, Kightly, Halford, Henry, Milijas, Castillo, Jones, Edwards, Jarvis, Ebanks-Blake, Maierhofer, Keogh, Doyle.

• Police did not receive a complaint from the player or fan
• Supporter will be charged with going onto the playing area

The police have dropped an investigation into a clash between the Manchester City footballer Craig Bellamy and a supporter who ran on to the pitch.

The supporter was pushed in the face by Bellamy who confronted him after he staged a solo pitch invasion at the end of Sunday’s highly charged Manchester derby.

Neither the fan nor Bellamy made a complaint to the police about the clash but the supporter will appear in court later this month over the pitch encroachment.

A Greater Manchester police spokesman said: “We have received no complaints about this incident and are currently not investigating the matter.”

Jake Joseph Clarke, 21, of Chorley, Lancashire, will appear before Trafford magistrates on 30 September charged with going on to a playing area without lawful authority or excuse. He ran from the home supporters’ section at Old Trafford as Manchester City took the kick-off following Michael Owen’s dramatic late winner in United’s 4-3 Premier League victory.

• Van der Sar has not played this season because of injury
• Understudy Ben Foster has yet to impress

Edwin van der Sar has admitted that this may be his last season at Manchester United. The goalkeeper has been unable to play a game this season as a result of a hand injury. However, his deputy, Ben Foster, has failed to convince fans that he is the Dutchman’s natural successor.

Though soon to be 39, Van der Sar will make a decision in December as to whether he will continue to play.

“I’ve said for a few years that it sometimes may be my last season,” he said. “Six months before my contract with Manchester United ended in December 2006, we extended for one year and so far it has been the same every time.

“I wait each season to see how or where I stand, if everyone is happy and if I can get motivated. But I know, because I always get older, it is increasingly likely that this will be my last season.

“In December, it will be clear how it goes. By then, I’ll have clarity. It is a horrible dilemma. On the one hand I do not oversleep, I feel as good as a few years ago,” he added.

The Manchester United manager does not expect his goalkeeper to play for another season, however he has yet to be impressed by Foster’s long-term ability.

• Craig Bellamy, Gary Neville escape FA censure
• ‘Players must use their emotion’ says Eastlands manager

Mark Hughes has insisted he has no intention of demanding restraint from Manchester City’s volatile players after Craig Bellamy, along with Gary Neville and Manchester United, escaped with a warning from the Football Association for his contribution to Sunday’s explosive derby at Old Trafford.

Bellamy had been under threat of a three-match ban for striking a pitch invader towards the end of United’s controversial 4-3 victory, and Neville also risked an improper conduct charge for goading City supporters following Michael Owen’s 96th-minute winner. Both, however, received warnings as to their future conduct instead.

“In relation to Craig Bellamy the match referee has confirmed that he would not have sent the player off had he seen the incident with the fan at the time,” confirmed the FA. “Craig Bellamy will be contacted by the FA and warned as to his future conduct. Gary Neville has been reminded of his responsibilities following his actions after Manchester United’s final goal deep into injury time.”

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Neville’s slap on the wrist comes despite the United club captain receiving a £5,000 fine and an identical warning for taunting Liverpool fans in 2006. United also escaped a charge of failing to control their supporters after the City substitute Javier Garrido was struck on the head by a coin as he headed down the tunnel at half-time. The FA statement added: “The FA fully expects the club to use all available means to identify and deal with the culprit appropriately and, along with the fan who entered the field of play, look to issue bans on attending future matches.”

The FA’s decision on Bellamy represents a major relief to Hughes, who last week lost Emmanuel Adebayor to a three-match ban for violent conduct against a former Arsenal colleague, Robin van Persie. Despite the successive incidents, however, the City manager sees no reason to order his players to improve their behaviour.

“You can’t take emotion out of football or any sport for that matter because that is fundamental to what you are trying to create,” insisted Hughes. “That passion from the players’ point of view is fundamental to how they develop as a top player. Every player who plays for Manchester City has passion but there will be varying degrees of it, because all players and personalities are different. You have to have it.”

Hughes also issued a staunch defence of Bellamy’s actions in the Manchester derby and believes the FA had to take the pitch invasion into account. “The guy should not have been on the pitch,” he added. “Craig went over to tell him to get off the pitch as quickly as he could, the guy made an aggressive move towards him and Craig has instinctively put his hand up in a defensive manner and pushed the lad away. That is the top and bottom of it and I think people will see that for what it is.”

The City manager would not elaborate on Neville’s provocative celebrations in front of the City supporters, despite accusing his former team-mate of behaving “like a lunatic” immediately after the derby. He will, however, demand a similar punishment for Adebayor after the Togo international was charged with improper conduct for running at Arsenal supporters following his goal at Eastlands on 12 September. “There is a lot of hysteria surrounding everything we do at the moment,” Hughes said. “All we ask is that if we have to answer to the FA [regarding Adebayor’s celebrations] then we will be looking for that balance.”

Hughes was content with Sir Alex Ferguson’s post-match description of City as a “noisy neighbour” or, to be more precise, the idea that the United manager is more venomous in his criticism of his local rivals now that he perceives them as a genuine threat.

“In terms of the amount of noise our fans made on Sunday you could possibly say we are a noisy neighbour, although I don’t think we made as much noise as is being made out,” added the City manager. “If that is people’s perception [of Ferguson’s agenda] then yes, we are quite comfortable with that. After our performance against Arsenal and the character we showed at Old Trafford, they know we are not going to go away. We are going to have an influence on who wins the Premier League in the seasons to come.”

• ‘I’m a huge fan of [Michael Owen] and always have been’
• ‘I hold him in high regard but I hope my defenders don’t do that’

Mick McCarthy, the Wolverhampton Wanderers manager, believes that Michael Owen’s summer transfer to Manchester United has provided the striker with the perfect stage to rediscover the form that made him one of England’s premier goalscorers.

Owen came off the substitutes’ bench to score the winning goal in Manchester United’s thrilling 4-3 victory over Manchester City on Sunday and is set to make only his second start of the season against Wolves in the Carling Cup tonight as Sir Alex Ferguson takes the opportunity to rest his first-choice players.

“Sir Alex taking him was a brilliant signing,” said McCarthy. “I’m a huge fan of his and always have been. He has had a wonderful career. There was talk of clubs in the lower echelons of the Premier League looking at him and then a massive club like United jump to the front of the queue to take him – how must that feel? He didn’t need his career resurrecting, but that would have given him a massive lift.

“Playing for United can take him back to that level he was at,” continued the Wolves manager. “He might not be as quick as he was but that finish on Sunday said it all for me. His goal was fabulous. It didn’t come as the third goal in a 3-0 win. This was the very dying seconds of a massive derby match to win it 4-3 and he delivered as he has done so many times. I hold him in high regard but I hope my defenders don’t do that. I hope they treat him with utter contempt.”

McCarthy, who will use the Carling Cup tie as an opportunity for Michael Kightly and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake to improve their match fitness after lengthy spells on the sidelines, is determined to take the game to United. “We’re going there to try and win the game. I will play 4-4-2 and have a go. We’re not going to sit back and let them attack us for 90 minutes because that is a recipe for disaster. If you go to Old Trafford and say ‘come and attack us’ then you will get slammed.”

• Manager wants his substitutes to celebrate with feeling
• Defender’s derby goal celebration prompts FA warning

Harry Redknapp has highlighted Gary Neville’s passion as an example to be followed. The Tottenham manager urged the fringe members of his squad, many of whom will start at Preston North End tomorrow night, to be similarly selfless.

Neville’s celebration of Michael Owen’s 96th-minute winner for Manchester United against Manchester City on Sunday saw the defender warned by the Football Association yesterday, for goading City supporters. Yet Redknapp remarked on how the 34-year-old’s delight outweighed any disappointment at not being used as a substitute.

“That’s why United are where they are,” said Redknapp. “They are a team and they are all together. Gary Neville has won everything there is to win but you look at the excitement he showed at his team winning, when he wasn’t even in the team. He wasn’t sitting on the bench with his arms folded. He was jumping higher than Fergie.

“When we played United at White Hart Lane the week before, my coaches, Tim Sherwood and Les Ferdinand, were in the stands along with the United boys who weren’t subs. They were jumping up and down at every decision and again when they scored their goals. That winning mentality goes right through the club. [Darron] Gibson and all the other boys wanted to play but they also have those feelings that they showed.

“There are not many clubs where you get that. It’s something you’d like to develop. It’s hard to change some people but that’s what makes winning teams. I thought it was amazing to see Neville’s feelings show and the joy he had at winning.”

Redknapp has less than fond memories of his substitutes’ bench last January, in a 3-2 defeat at Bolton. “I remember looking at the bench and I think two of them were asleep,” he said. “They had hats pulled down and blankets over them. I said, ‘I’m sorry to drag you up here, I know it’s cold and you could be at home with the missus having a cup of tea. It’s hard for 30 grand a week to watch a game.’”

Redknapp will use the trip to Preston to offer opportunities to players “who need a game”. Heurelho Gomes will replace Carlo Cudicini in goal while Michael Dawson will play his first match of the season, after making a timely recovery from an achilles problem. Redknapp’s other established centre-halves, Ledley King, Sébastien Bassong and Jonathan Woodgate, are injured and Redknapp suggested that Woodgate might need a third operation on his troublesome groin if an injection did not solve the problem.

Bassong has been given the all-clear after his head injury against Chelsea on Sunday but he also fell awkwardly to damage his knee and so he must undergo a scan on that. Redknapp is expected to include Alan Hutton, Gareth Bale, David Bentley, Kyle Naughton, Giovani dos Santos and Peter Crouch.

• ‘Van der Sar is the right guy for the team at the moment’
• Sir Alex Ferguson criticises Ben Foster’s effort against Arsenal

Peter Schmeichel has claimed Ben Foster’s attempt to oust Edwin van der Sar at Old Trafford will be on hold as soon as the Dutch veteran regains fitness, with the England hopeful’s form under scrutiny even before his high-profile mistakes in Sunday’s Manchester derby.

The Manchester United goalkeeper was punished twice in the 4-3 victory, first when caught in possession by Carlos Tevez for Gareth Barry’s equaliser and then when Craig Bellamy evaded his suspect positioning to score City’s 90th-minute leveller.

Schmeichel, United’s former goalkeeping great, has been equivocal in his support for Foster and insists the player Sir Alex Ferguson championed as England’s No1 at the next World Cup will be dropped once Van der Sar recovers from a broken finger. “He’s getting a good run of games now but I’m sure Edwin will be back in when he’s fit because the manager knows he’s the right guy for the team at the moment,” said the Dane. “Ben will have to make the most of his chances but what he has done so far has been promising.”

Foster’s performance in United’s previous home game, the 2-1 defeat of Arsenal, came in for some rare public criticism by Ferguson, when the United manager queried the merits of Andrey Arshavin’s long-range opener. “I thought Ben Foster could have done better,” wrote Ferguson in his programme notes on Sunday. “With the way a ball swerves these days it was difficult, but saving it was not beyond Ben’s capabilities.”

The 38-year-old Van der Sar has been on the sidelines since breaking a finger and a bone in his left hand while saving a penalty against Bayern Munich in a pre-season tournament. He is expected to be available for the home game against Bolton Wanderers on 17 October. Tomasz Kuszczak, meanwhile, is expected to receive a run-out against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carling Cup tomorrow night.

Owen Hargreaves is due back in training tomorrow having undergone surgery in the US on tendinitis in both knees. Ferguson has stated he expects the England midfielder to be available for United’s final three group games in the Champions League, meaning he will return against CSKA Moscow on 3 November if that estimate proves correct, although Hargreaves will not be rushed given he last appeared for United at Chelsea on 21 September last year.

• Manchester City manager says striker ‘put up a defensive hand’
• ‘He wanted the guy to get off as quickly as possible’

Mark Hughes has defended Craig Bellamy following the Welsh forward’s alleged striking of a pitch invader at Old Trafford during the Manchester derby on Sunday.

Bellamy appeared to strike the intruder while he was being restrained by stewards, after the fan had encroached on to the playing surface following Michael Owen’s late winner for Manchester United in the 4-3 victory over City. But the City manager said the striker was acting in self-defence, describing the incident as “something and nothing”.

• Bellamy faces possible three-match ban
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“Craig obviously wasn’t privy to how much time was left so he wanted the guy to get off as quick as possible and told him so,” said the Manchester City manager. “Obviously the guy has made an aggressive movement towards him, and Craig put up a defensive hand to push the guy away, which he was right to do.”

Hughes confirmed that City are yet to be contacted by the Football Association, but said that this explanation would be the one given to the FA if they did seek to speak to the club.

Hughes also asked for improvement of the rules governing time-keeping in Premier League matches. City conceded the fourth goal more than five minutes into added time after the fourth official had indicated that a minimum of four minutes was to be added. “It’s an area that needs clarification,” he said. “It can cause confusion if the alloted time is exceeded.”

• Bellamy admits hitting fan but says it was only a push
• Neville may also be punished for goading City supporters

Craig Bellamy is facing a possible three‑match ban for striking a pitch invader towards the end of a rancorous Manchester derby that could also have costly repercussions for Gary Neville.

The Football Association’s disciplinary department is considering whether Bellamy should be charged with violent conduct, while Neville’s habit of goading opposition supporters could result in the Manchester United defender getting a charge of improper conduct and a possible fine or one-match suspension.

Neville, an unused substitute, reacted to Michael Owen’s winning goal by running from the dugout along the side of the pitch to the corner of Old Trafford where the away fans sit. Several City supporters have contacted the FA to complain that he mouthed obscenities in their direction.

Neville has previous when it comes to this kind of behaviour. He was fined £5,000 in 2006 for taunting Liverpool fans as well as receiving an official warning about his future conduct, something that has compelled the FA to investigate his latest alleged transgression.

Mark Hughes, the Manchester City manager, accused his former team-mate of acting “like a lunatic” and, having run half the length of the pitch to make his point, it appeared to dawn on Neville that he could have landed himself in trouble. On the way back to the dug-out, he was keen to make it look as if he were just warming up, overlooking the fact that United had used their three substitutes.

Manchester City’s assistant manager Mark Bowen said last night that the club would not be taking action against Bellamy after the FA’s disciplinary department spent today studying television pictures of the two flashpoints. The FA may also take action against United for failing to control their supporters. As well as the pitch invader, a coin was thrown from the crowd, apparently in the direction of Carlos Tevez but striking Javier Garrido, the City substitute, and cutting his head.

“I was hit by a coin in the head when I was just walking calmly down the tunnel,” Garrido confirmed. “I believe the target was Tevez but I was standing next to him at the time. It’s incredible that this could take place at Old Trafford, one of the biggest stadiums in the world. The shouts against Tevez are normal but I do not understand why anybody would throw objects. Really, it’s very sad.”

City have already lost Emmanuel Adebayor to a three-match ban for his stamp on Robin van Persie in the 4-2 defeat of Arsenal two weekends ago, with further sanctions likely for the way the striker celebrated scoring against his former club.

With Robinho and Roque Santa Cruz injured, City cannot afford to lose the in-form Bellamy and the club are angry that he faces being punished for confronting someone who was breaking the law by being on the pitch, and who was yesterday charged with the offence. An unrepentant Bellamy has explained that he wanted to restart the match and went over to the supporter to tell him to “get off the pitch”.

• Guardian study shows added time to turn round home games
• Owen won derby after an extra five minutes and 26 seconds

Sir Alex Ferguson likes to boast that his Manchester United team score more late goals than any other side in the world. Others argue that they get a bit of extra help from referees. It has now emerged that the Premier League champions do, as suspected, benefit from an imbalance in the amount of stoppage time that is added to their matches.

After the controversy over Michael Owen’s winning goal in Sunday’s Manchester derby, the Guardian has looked at all of United’s league matches at Old Trafford since the start of the 2006-07 season and discovered that, on average, there has been over a minute extra added by referees when United do not have the lead after 90 minutes, compared to when they are in front. In 48 games when United were ahead, the average amount of stoppage time was 191.35 seconds. In 12 matches when United were drawing or losing there was an average of 257.17sec.

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The average stoppage time added at Old Trafford in the period in question is below that given at Anfield, the Emirates Stadium and Stamford Bridge. United’s is 205 seconds, compared to Liverpool’s 210sec, Arsenal’s 224sec and Chelsea’s 229sec. But there is also evidence to support the suspicions of many managers, players and supporters that United get preferential treatment at home. When Owen made it 4-3 on Sunday the game was five minutes and 26 seconds into stoppage time. In total, the referee, Martin Atkinson, allowed almost seven minutes, even though the fourth official had signalled a minimum of four. Mark Hughes, the City manager, spoke of feeling “robbed”. His sense of grievance will not be helped if he analyses the last three seasons.

In 2006-07, for example, United were winning 15 times on entering stoppage time and referees added an average 194.53sec. In the four games when United were not winning there was an average of 217.25sec. The following year the disparity was greater, Opta’s figures showing an average 178.29sec added when United were winning and 254.5sec when they were not. Last season it was 187.71sec compared to 258.6sec.

The pattern has continued in the first three games of the season. In the two games United have led they have played an average 304sec of injury time. On Sunday, Atkinson allowed the game to go on for 415sec.