I just love the smell of an injury crisis in the morning. It appears that United’s defensive woes just roll on, with Alex Ferguson confirming after the 3-0 win over Wolves (or sheep in Wolves clothing) that Nemanja Vidic sustained a calf strain and will be a doubt for the trip to Fulham at the weekend. The United boss also revealed that Wes Brown’s absence last night was due to a recurrence of his hamstring problem that will see him sidelined for a further two weeks.

Vidic was subbed right on the 59 minute mark last night, robbing his fantasy owners of the clean sheet. They cuddled up to Vidic’s goal for comfort but the news of his possibly absence at Fulham will be disconcerting. The fact that Wes Brown’s name was missing from last night’s team-sheet came as a surprise (certainly to me given his selection in the Picks). Brown returned and completed the 90 minutes against Villa last weekend but it appears that Ferguson took a gamble on his hamstring injury and lost.

Ferguson now expects to be forced to call on Ritchie De Laet to fill in, possibly at centre-back, for the encounter with Hodgson’s side. De Laet replaced Vidic in that position last night after starting the game at right-back. He is available to us fantasy managers as a budget option (4.5 in the Fantasy Premier League game) as a short-term prospect but, given the disruption suffered by United’s defence, you have to wonder whether they can go to Fulham and keep a clean sheet. Bobby Zamora will certainly be fancying his chances – it’s not often we can say that.