Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Javier Hernandez is expected to be sidelined for the next four weeks with an ankle injury.
The Mexican was subbed off early in the 1-0 win over Aston Villa this evening and was stretchered from the proceedings after a lengthy delay. His goals have been crucial to the champions of late, with Hernandez scoring 3 of United’s 4 goals prior to the Villa match.
Post-match, the United boss rued the loss of his in-form striker and mulled over options for what will be a busy Christmas period:
I think it is torn ligaments in the ankle and he’ll be out for four weeks. We are having a bad time with injuries at the moment but that is why we have a strong squad. Danny Welbeck is fit again and fortunately he got 15 minutes tonight which is good. He has not had a lot of football recently which is something I have to consider. But Nani did alright through the middle and Valencia did very well for us when he came on, he was excellent. So I have some options up front. We may have Berbatov fit for Wednesday also, but we are getting our fair share of injuries at the moment.
The mention of Nani as a possibility in the central role is particularly intriguing. With Wayne Rooney’s run of goalless games now stretching to eight league fixtures on the back of tonight’s game, United are relying on their defence to ensure victories right now.
They have now ground out four 1-0 wins in the last five games since the return of Nemanja Vidic and have scored more than one goal just once in their last nine games but with a run of fixtures that includes (WOL, qpr, ful, WIG, BLA) look ripe for investment.
Welbeck, at 6.6, would be the most obvious bargain but with Fergie urging caution over his game time, the Fantasy options are low on the ground right now up front, with defence perhaps looking the most viable source of points.
