Tottenham Hotspur can go level on points with leaders Manchester City if they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers at home on Saturday and they could have midfield dynamo Scott Parker back after three games out with a knee injury.
Defenders William Gallas (calf) and Ledley King (hamstring) are out along with midfielder Sandro (calf).
"The players know how hard it is to win a single game in the Premier League, we do not look beyond Wolves because of that," he said in The Sun.
"We need a good performance against a team that will battle for everything," Ferguson told United's website. "Any team near the bottom of the table will do that, as we experienced at home to Blackburn."
Sunderland, who won 3-0 at Stamford Bridge last season, have been resurgent under new manager Martin O'Neill, taking 13 points from a possible 18 since he took charge.
Fifth-placed Arsenal are missing defenders Bacary Sagna, Kieran Gibbs, Carl Jenkinson, Andre Santos, Thomas Vermaelen and Francis Coquelin for Sunday's trip to Swansea City.
"At the moment we are exploring potential situations we can take advantage of but there is nothing concrete," manager Arsene Wenger told the club's website.
"We've got an option to be active if we want to be active, but we said at the outset that we'd be quiet," he said. "It's work in progress for us.
"We'll just keep doing what we're doing, and the boys will keep working as hard as they can, and we'll see where we go."
