Ferguson: Rooney-Welbeck partnership can only get better

Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed Danny Welbeck and Wayne Rooney’s flourishing forward partnership for Manchester United.

The England internationals have been in fine form recently and Ferguson can understand why parallels have been drawn between the two and United’s legendary duo of Andrew Cole and Dwight Yorke.

The Scot told United’s official website: “Wayne is 26 now, Danny’s 21. You’d think that for the next few years they can only get better. And we hope so. With Danny being fit again and playing consistently, he’s developed better.

“Last week we saw something really special. I know there were a lot of references to (Andy) Cole and (Dwight) Yorke and there were similarities, yes.

“I thought Welbeck’s movement was fantastic last week (against Everton). Attacking-wise, we were terrific in the second half.”

United currently have the best away record in the Premier League but are travelling to the toughest hosts on Monday – cross-town rivals Manchester City.

And the 70-year-old wants his side to take the game to Roberto Mancini’s men, despite them having dropped just two points at the Etihad Stadium all season.

“I think we’ll have to have a threat on Monday,” Ferguson said. “We expect our players to step up to the mark and offer a threat to City. No doubt about it.

“We have an interesting combination of things here: the team with the best home record in the country and then the team with the best away record in the country.”