Chelsea have the potential to close the gap to four points this evening, although United will still have two games in hand, which could take us to ten points clear.

Regardless, we don’t want to be taking any chances with these games in hand, which is why it is such good news to hear Rooney, amongst others, will be available for Wednesday’s game against Newcastle.

“He’s fine,” said Ferguson. “He trained yesterday, he trained today and he will be available for tomorrow.”

Most of the missing players at the weekend will join Rooney in being able to play, although John O’Shea is a doubt.

“We took him off on Sunday as he’s still got a problem with his heel,” added Ferguson. “It settled down after a day or so, and we will put some new insoles in his boot to see if that helps. He should be okay and, other than that, everyone is fine for tomorrow. We’ve got Dimitar, we’ve got Michael Carrick and Anderson, who didn’t play a full game. We’ve got Darren Fletcher, Ji-sung Park and Wayne Rooney, so we’re not so bad.”

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