Sir Alex Ferguson just held his weekly press conference ahead of this weekend's Premier League tie with Fulham and during it, he revealed that Ashley Young is the only player unavailable for selection. That, of course, doesn't include Darren Fletcher being out for the season due to illness*. The gaffer also indicated that Rio Ferdinand will start against the Cottagers and that Jonny Evans will return to training today:
* If Fletch does return in the summer, it'll be as a holding-midfielder according to Ferguson.
"We're quite healthy in terms of the players available. Ashley Young's the one that's still not available. Hopefully Jonny trains today, which would give us another defender. That's good news. I'll make one or two changes tomorrow. Rio Ferdinand will play. Definitely."
- Ferguson | Source: ManUtd.com
Javier Hernandez wasn't in the eighteen versus Southampton at the midweek because he supposedly had a minor hamstring knock then. There was no word, though, on the striker during today's press conference. His national team, Mexico, have an important World Cup qualifier next Wednesday versus Jamaica so it's possible Ferguson could be considering that and the long travel involved when managing Chicharito's fitness.
For the most part, it sounds as if there are very few limitations for the manager when he picks his team. A number of players have started twice in the past week -- Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Patrice Evra, David de Gea, Michael Carrick, Anderson, and Wayne Rooney -- so they could be obvious candidates for a rest. So is Nemanja Vidic since there could be caution in bringing him back into the lineup just three days after featuring versus Southampton due to his knee. United don't have a fixture at the next midweek but much of the squad will be on international duty then -- mostly, though, for friendlies rather than for qualifiers. It is something Ferguson likely will be be considering, along with this past week's fixtures, when he picks his team to face Fulham.