Carrick And Berbatov Out, Manucho Could Play

Neither Michael Carrick nor Dimitar Berbatov is likey to play tonight as United start the defense of their Champions League crown. Or, to be precise: Carrick is definitely out while Berbatov is very doubtful.

Both picked up injuries during Saturday's 2-1 reverse at Anfield but while Berbatov's knee problem looks only a minor one and he should be ready for the visit to Stamford Bridge, Carrick's injury is serious: he is set to miss the next six weeks which is a severe blow, given the unreliability of Hargreaves' fitness and the form of Paul Scholes.

Patrice Evra was ill but should start tonight on the left while Wes Brown is also carrying a little knock but is expected to be fit. Papers claim that Manucho could feature: the Angolan striker has recovered from injury and trained with the first-team squad.

So did Cristiano Ronaldo who is definitely going to be involved, likely on the bench according to Sir Alex. His return should be a boost but even more welcome would be the return of Edwin van der Sar and Nemanja Vidic: the two guys who played in their positions at Anfield did not look very convincing though at first sight they were deceivingly similar-looking to our Dutch keeper and Serbian centre-back...

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