Darren Fletcher is set to continue his return to full fitness with his first competitive start for Manchester United in 10 months when Newcastle United visit Old Trafford tonight for their League Cup third-round clash.
The Scotland international midfielder made his first appearance for Manchester United as a second-half substitute against Galatasaray last week since a chronic bowel condition left his career hanging in the balance.
Now he is set to make his first start since November last year after spending the end of last season helping to coach United’s reserve side as he battled the illness, before working during the summer to make his comeback.
Photo: EPA
Fletcher, 28, has had to change his diet and adapt his lifestyle to overcome the ulcerative colitis condition, and manager Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted to be able to include him in his starting lineup today as he prepares to make a host of changes from the 2-1 win over Liverpool on Sunday.
If the Scot comes through the game unscathed he could be in line for his Premier League return against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
“Fletcher will certainly play against Newcastle and that is the perfect game for him to start back. Then we have the game against Tottenham and he could be involved in that,” Ferguson said. “It depends on how he does on Wednesday. It will be his first 90 minutes since 10 months out. It’s a big one for him. He is handling the condition at the moment, as we saw the other night he is looking fine. It is a matter of hoping the condition stays dormant and he is handling his diet well. Hopefully, he gets that break.”
Ashley Young will miss out as he is out until next month with a knee injury, while Wayne Rooney is still not fit following the cut he received on his thigh last month against Fulham.
Ferguson will opt to make a number of changes for the League Cup as he usually does in the early stages. Alexander Buttner, Anderson and Tom Cleverley could all feature having not played a part in the Liverpool game.
Meanwhile, Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand expressed his relief at getting the game against Liverpool out of the way after United stuttered to victory over 10 men on an emotional afternoon when Hillsborough was remembered.
“With the occasion and the emotions involved, we just wanted to come here [Anfield], get the job done and get out with the three points. We have done that so we are well pleased,” Ferdinand said. “You can get really involved and sometimes the emotion of the occasion can affect you, but they dealt with it fantastically.”
Newcastle are likely to field a strong side, with Fabricio Coloccini and Cheick Tiote set to start to get some more minutes under their belt, while Shola Ameobi, Dan Gosling and Sylvain Marveaux could also feature.
Coloccini has not played since Newcastle’s draw with Aston Villa on Sept. 2, while Tiote made just his second appearance of the season in Newcastle’s win over Norwich City on Sunday.
The Magpies have not won at Old Trafford since 1972, but manager Alan Pardew is going to give the competition a real go, despite knowing it will be a tough test against Ferguson’s side.
“Of course, you want to enjoy going there. We are going to have make sure we can get game time out of the players that will need it,” Pardew said. “Colo could play, Cheick definitely needs a game, he was rusty [against Norwich], so I will have a word with the staff and hopefully we’ll get a result there.”
Goalkeeper Tim Krul will definitely miss out, with Pardew mulling over the decision on whether to field veteran Steve Harper or Rob Elliot, who played in their UEFA Europa League tie with CS Maritimo last week.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but