Red Devils count rising injury toll

Striker Dimitar Berbatov and Brazilian full-backs Rafael and Fabio have all been ruled out of Manchester United’s clash with Aston Villa.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed United would make the trip to Villa Park on Saturday without the 30-year-old Bulgarian, who had to be withdrawn at half-time from the Red Devils’ midweek League Cup loss at home to Crystal Palace with an ankle problem.

Ferguson revealed the striker will only be out for a week and hoped the squad had enough quality to overcome a lengthening injury list at Old Trafford.

“Berbatov’s injury isn’t serious,” Ferguson said. “He got injured the week before and it’s just a recurrence of it. Hopefully he’ll be okay in the next week.”

“We’ve been getting a few injuries but it happens. Every club gets them.”

“At the moment, we’re going through a spell where we’re getting a few a week, but we have a strong squad and we just have to get on with it.”

Brazilian brothers Rafael and Fabio have also been confirmed by the Scot as absentees for the Premier League match, likely leaving Phil Jones and Chris Smalling to compete for a starting berth at right-back.

Other players to miss out on the testing clash with Alex McLeish’s team include Michael Owen, Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley and Anderson.

But Ferguson was in no mood to be pessimistic about the top flight clash and admitted he was highly anticipating the game at Villa Park on Saturday.

“The atmosphere is good there, the fans are close to the touchline and we’ve done well at Villa (in the past),” he said.

“Every time we’ve gone there, we’ve had to play well to win and we need to do that tomorrow.”

In the same fixture last season, United needed two late goals to salvage a 2-2 draw at the ground.

Ashley Young, who Ferguson signed this summer from the Villans, scored a penalty against the Red Devils, with Marc Albrighton sending Aston Villa 2-0 up.

Captain Nemanja Vidic pulled a goal back for the visitors before substitute Federico Macheda levelled the game with five minutes remaining.