Despite picking up three points following a 5-0 win at Craven Cottage, United fans were left disappointed by the news that Phil Jones had probably broken his cheekbone and would be out for six weeks. He has been brilliant in the centre of our midfield and the idea of having to go a month or more without him in the team was gutting, particularly in light of all the other injuries we currently have.

However, Sir Alex Ferguson has today confirmed that there was no break and he is available for our game on Boxing Day against Wigan.

“Phil should be okay for Monday,” said Ferguson. “There’s a bit of swelling in his jaw but no break, no fracture, which is good news. We feared the worst because he lost his vision a bit in that period when he came back onto the field. Thankfully it’s good news.”

Ashley Young replaced Jones in that game before going off injured himself after hurting himself in a challenge. The former Villa man has lost his place in the starting line-up over recent weeks although certainly would have had plenty of game time over this busy festive period.

“It’s not so good for Ashley Young,” added Ferguson. “He’ll be out for a few weeks. Ashley was tripped as he went into the next tackle. He wasn’t positioned to go into that next tackle – he was half falling at the time. The second tackle was a hard tackle – not a bad tackle – it was just the way he went into Ashley. He’s taken a real clump and has a knee injury that will keep him out for a few weeks. As we get one back, we’re losing one. It’s not an easy spell for us. We just have to get on with it. The squad has handled the situation quite well.”