Manchester United have been playing with a fourth choice right-back over the past couple of months, following the injuries to Rafael da Silva, Gary Neville and Wes Brown.

Sir Alex Ferguson has today confirmed that Neville is close to returning and might even be in the squad for the weekend. Rafael isn’t far behind, whilst there’s still no positive news on Wes.

“Gary’s had an injury but he could be in the squad,” said Ferguson. “He’s done a full week’s training, coupled with a 10-day remedial programme he completed before that. He’s done very well and hopefully that’s him back now. Rafael is now on the 10-day remedial course that Gary was on and we’re hoping he can join in with full training towards the end of next week. Unfortunately Wes still isn’t near that part.”