Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas has been ruled out of Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash with Manchester United.
Fabregas has failed to recover from his hamstring injury in time for Old Trafford but the Gunners have no fresh injury concerns following Wednesday night's 3-1 victory over Celtic.
Theo Walcott (back), Lukasz Fabianski (knee), Samir Nasri (broken leg) and Johan Djourou (knee) all continue their rehabilitation.
Rio Ferdinand and Edwin van der Sar remain United's major absentees for the big showdown.
Sir Alex Ferguson feels Ferdinand may not quite be ready for the trip to Tottenham on September 12 but his recovery from a thigh injury will not keep him out for much longer.
Ben Foster will continue in goal, while Michael Carrick and Anderson are hoping for recalls after missing the five-goal rout of Wigan.
Teams:
Manchester United (from): Foster, Kuszczak, Neville, O'Shea, De Laet, Brown, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Fabio, Nani, Carrick, Scholes, Fletcher, Anderson, Giggs, Park, Tosic, Valencia, Owen, Rooney, Berbatov, Macheda.
Arsenal (from): Almunia, Sagna, Vermaelen, Gallas, Clichy, Song, Ramsey, Denilson, Diaby, Bendtner, Eduardo, Mannone, Van Persie, Eboue, Arshavin, Wilshere, Gibbs, Silvestre, Merida.
Your Comments
akodox
"look its too early for us to start judging if manu misses ronaldo or not.let the season end see how many goals they scored this season and compare to the previous with ronaldo.as for valencia, he his not ronaldo, but he has crossed balls for rooney and others to score.he has helped in defending and he has made fergie change to a 4 4 2.where rooney operates as a striker and berbatov, is playing better this season.u can also the improvement from nani.i only think fergie made a mistake for not getting sneijder and robben.bcos the need a creative central midfielder.then i would say they wont miss ronaldo."
garzer
"alansbass - the only competitive match Ferdinand has played in the last 10 was the CL final. Where he was injured.
Not sure what you mean by "looking at the form of Rio Ferdinand" when there is no basis for such a comment."
misterwoods
"some clowns posting here... 70-50! haha... the form of rio ferdinand??? he's injured!
arsenal to win anyway :P"
ife4luv21
"its a pity fabregas will not be playing tomorrow,it will be a big loss to arsenal.but wat pain me most about the loss of fabregas is that if man u beat arsenal all arsenal fans will have excuse,but all the same,its gonna be a great match tomorrow"
alansbass
"Nanooks, read again my friend. At no point am I writing off United or Fergie. I'm merely pointing out that Valencia will not have as big an impact as Ronaldo did in the games against Arsenal. Also, United have so far started the season quite slowly. Apart from 45 minutes against Wigan last week they haven't looked like the force they have been in recent years. At the same time Arsenal have flown out of the blocks and will be confident and focused which is why I feel my confidence is well placed. "
ragnarok
"Im too concerned that he's not gonna play. We have enough quality in our squad to give the Mancs a proper spanking
"
nanooks
"I hear that Cesc Fabregas is OUT of tomorrow's match which is a shame because he's a class a act. However, it's a squad game these days and the loss of one individual should not make a significant difference and neither should it be used as an excuse."
knp_1000
""This is a good news,am so happy to note that Fabs is rated 50-50 and between now and tomorrow,he should be 70-50" - classic! :-)"
nanooks
"alansbass - Rio Ferdinand is an irrelevance to tomorrow's match because he's injured. As for Cristiano Ronaldo...If you subscribe to the theory that United are no longer a force without him then you may be right. My own view is that anyone who writes off Ferguson so easily hasn't been paying attention for the last 20 years or so. "
cannonfodder
"first time in a while i am generally hopeful of a result at man u, the team look far more fluid and confident. Without the mug Adebeyor upsetting everyone they look like they are finally ready to do something, lets hope this yr they win something to show the other two tw*ts it was them that were the problem not the other players."
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