Alex Ferguson has tonight confirmed that Wayne Rooney faces at least three weeks on the sidelines as a result of the injury he sustained at Bolton on Sunday. Ferguson has also revealed that Paul Scholes’ calf injury that keeps him out of the Champions League tie with Valencia tomorrow night, will also rule him out of the trip to Sunderland at the weekend.

“It will be two to three weeks. But it depends because Wayne has done quite well with his recovery from injury in the past.”

An absence of three weeks for Rooney will likely see him miss league games with Sunderland and West Brom, with the international break allowing the striker more time to recover. The setback will however right Rooney off once and for all as a Fantasy asset and those who had kept the faith waiting for his form to flicker, will now surely be forced to get rid and look elsewhere.

Rooney’s place in the side is now up for grabs and significantly Michael Owen put himself in the box seat with his equaliser at the Reebok on Sunday. Owen is available for just 7.3 in the Fantasy Premier League game and while a 4-5-1 from Ferguson may put Owen on the bench at Sunderland, he has every chance of earning a start for the home game with West Brom in Gameweek 8 – potentially a profitable fixture. Ferguson does have the option of Macheda and Hernandez but Owen surely sits above them in the current pecking order.

The absence of Scholes for the trip to Sunderland also presents intriguing options. With Ryan Giggs sidelined with a hamstring problem, Darron Gibson may well be given the opportunity to prove himself in the Scholes role having only today spoken out about his need to gain further first team experience. Gibson was left out of the 18 at Bolton but is likely to be in the mix for the Stadium of Light with Anderson also in the picture.

Ferguson’s lineup tomorrow night at Valencia is likely to offer us some clues as to his thinking going into Saturday’s testing clash with Steve Bruce’s side.