United injuries progressing

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Manchester United's injury situation is progressing well.

John O'Shea, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra are all fit enough to face Middlesbrough on Saturday after overcoming calf and groin injuries respectively.

"Patrice had a bad tackle that we thought was worse than what it was, but we think it was the actual blow - so I am happy he is back," he told Sky Sports News.

"John O'Shea, I am happy he is back, and with John O'Shea and Rio Ferdinand it gives us a far more experienced look at the back, but in saying that Darren Fletcher and Kieran Richardson have done excellent for us."

That leaves Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Louis Saha and Park Ji-sung on the treatment table, and Ferguson is confident all will soon be available.

"Vidic is coming along very, very well and starts training on Monday," he continued.

"He is doing some physical work, but Monday he starts some serious work and hopefully he will be available for the latter games.

"Gary is progressing quite well, there is a chance he could be ready for the Everton match.

"Park we will make a decision next week, we are seeing a specialist and hopefully we'll make an opinion what the next stage should be.

"Louis Saha is continuing his progress with the physios but won't be fit for this week and Mikael Silvestre is out for the season.

"The fortunate thing for us is that we have several players who can play several positions which is a great advantage to us."