United fans can breathe a sigh ofrelief after Sir Alex revealed that Anderson is expected to miss justthree weeks of football after injuring his ankle against Derby County.
Fans feared the worst after the 20-year-old Brazilian midfielder was stretchered from the pitch at the final whistle on Tuesday.
"Wesent Anderson for a scan and there’s no break," Sir Alex said at Fridaymorning's press conference. "But there was some ligament damage. Wethink he’ll be out for three weeks."
While that prognosis mightbring a smile to United supporters' faces, the boss did have other,less pleasing, news to report, with nine players absent for the FA Cupfourth tie against Tottenham Hotspurs' at OT on Saturday.
Hesaid: "The ones who are out [for the Spurs game] are Rio Ferdinand,Anderson, Nani, Rafael, Patrice Evra, Wayne Rooney, Wes Brown, JonnyEvans and Ji-sung Park [hamstring injury].
"Nani suffered a groin injury and he’ll be out for a week. Jonny Evans [ankle] will be out for three weeks."
SirAlex did rule out the possibility of bringing in any players on loan ascover. Instead United will rely on the remaining fit first-teamregulars and a number of young players.
"We still have DimitarBerbatov, Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo fit. But we will have tocall on some young players," he added.
"The injuries are mainlyto the defenders - I've got a whole back four out for Saturday. I couldplay Darren Fletcher at right back, with Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidicand John O’Shea, which would give me an experienced back four. But I’vecalled in Richard Eckersley and Fabio, who could be involved."
The good news isthat most of United's injury concerns are not long-term. Rooney andEvra aren't far off comebacks from hamstring and ankle problems, whileFerdinand (back) and Brown (ankle) could be fit to face Everton onMonday 2 February. (If either United or Everton require an FA Cupfourth round replay, the game will be brought forward to Saturday 31Jan).
"Rio and Wes could be back for the Everton game, if the match is on Monday," the boss said.
Theinjuries have prompted more calls for a winter break from the Unitedcamp, as a busy winter schedule takes its toll. "It’s not the bestposition to be in. January is a difficult month. We’ve talked a lotabout having a winter break to get rid of the strains you pick up inJanuary. But it’s not to be. The result is that the strains becomeinjuries and the players miss matches."
