INJURY CRISIS NOT SO BAD

United were given a major lift on Friday morning with the news that the injuries sustained by Louis Saha and Darren Fletcher are not as serious as first feared.

Saha is now likely to return against Blackburn at the end of the month, and will be joined by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who had a minor operation to clear up his knee.

Fletcher, who had been expected to miss two months of action, is now likely to be back in a few weeks.

Ferguson:

"For a couple of days I was starting to think that the roof was falling in on top of us, but things are looking much brighter now.

"Darren's injury is not bad as we first thought. He could be back in a few weeks. The news is very good on Louis Saha and we expect him to be back to face Blackburn, along with Ole Solskjaer. So things are looking up.

"We're delighted nothing was broken, but Mikael will still be out for a few weeks. We'll be monitoring him to see how things are progressing.

"He [Smith] enjoyed a good work out against Lille. He'll definitely figure against Middlesbrough. The loss of Henrik Larsson after the Cup game is a big loss. But as one player leaves, it provides an opportunity for someone else, such as Alan.

"For the last three or four months I've had to tell five or six players every week that they wouldn't be playing. It kills you at times because you're talking about some fantastic footballers.

"You feel for them because they're no able to contribute to a good spell of football for the team. But I don't have that problem for a couple of weeks now."