English Premiership
Young suffers toe injury
2011-10-28 18:18
Manchester - Manchester United winger Ashley Young has picked up a toe injury before the Premier League champions seek to soothe the pain of last week's thrashing by Manchester City with a trip to Everton on Saturday.
United, who were stunned 6-1 by their neighbours and league leaders last weekend for their first defeat at Old Trafford for 18 months, go to Goodison Park looking to put that behind them.
Alex Ferguson's side did return to winning ways with an expected and straightforward 3-0 win at League Two (fourth division) Aldershot in the League Cup midweek but are still feeling the sting of their first defeat of the season.
"It's been a tough week for everyone, it was a bad result. We have to get over that, that's the name of the game ... So we kick on," Ferguson told his regular Friday news conference.
"Hopefully we can recover from the disappointment of last week. It's something we've done over the years well, we'll have to do it again, nothing changes in football.
"The challenge is always there to be the very, very best which we hope we can do now."
Ferguson will decide later in the day whether Young will be fit for the trip, which defender Jonny Evans will miss following his red card against City.
"Ashley Young has got a toe injury. It's nothing serious ... hopefully we have a strong enough squad for tomorrow," Ferguson said.
Midfielder Tom Cleverley, who made a promising start to the season by forcing his way into the first team before damaging ligaments in his ankle last month, returned to action against Aldershot and could feature against Everton.
"Tom played his first game on Tuesday night ... he had been training for about 10 days so he was in good physical condition for it," Ferguson said of the 22-year-old who signed a new four-year deal earlier this month.
"Given we've got a game tomorrow, an hour (against Aldershot) was just about right for him."
United striker Wayne Rooney faces his former club and the one he supported as a youngster and Ferguson was expecting him to get his usual reception from the home crowd.
"Every time he makes a challenge he's going to be booed," he said.
Second-placed United, who have 20 points from nine games, trail City by five points and are one point ahead of third-placed Chelsea and fourth-placed Newcastle United who both have 19.
"It's never is an easy game at Everton," Ferguson added.
Everton were 3-1 down in this fixture last term going into injury time but scored twice to draw 3-3 and have not lost at home to United for the last three seasons.