United to field strong side against Crawley
MANCHESTER - Manchester United will take no chances against non-league opponents Crawley Town in the FA Cup Fifth Round on Saturday by fielding a strong team.
"We'll play all the players who were involved at Southampton in the last round," manager Sir Alex Ferguson said on Friday referring to the 2-1 win at the League 1 side last month.
"Bebe will play, so will the two da Silvas (Rafael and Fabio), (Wes) Brown, (John) O'Shea, Chicharito (Javier Hernandez). We're strong in midfield with Anderson, (Darron) Gibson and (Michael) Carrick all available."
"It should be an interesting game. We've got good experience of playing sides like Crawley having played Burton Albion and Exeter," added Ferguson.
"Those games were reminders that shocks can happen, and they almost did against those two teams. But the quality of players we'll have on Saturday shouldn't give us the same worry.
"We respect the fact that Crawley are the best non-league side for quite a while. They're very committed and aggressive and it'll be a tough game."
Michael Owen will be missing after the 31-year-old striker picked up a groin injury in training this week, although he should be ready for the midweek Champions League visit to Olympique Marseille, while Park Ji-sung is also sidelined.
"It's disappointing because I was keen to play Michael. We could risk him but there's no point. He should be OK for Wednesday," Ferguson told reporters, referring to the first leg of their last-16 tie at the Stade Velodrome.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
"Ji picked up a hamstring injury in the last few minutes of training last Friday. It's a blow because we've missed him (while he has been away on international duty for South Korea). He won't be available until March now."
Ferguson also confirmed that central defenders Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans were still unavailable through injury.
‘Arteta, Alonso, Emery, me… none of us were physical players – we needed the understanding of the game. That probably helped us move into management’: Premier League boss reveals reasons for natural career progression
‘England have the players to win the World Cup – it’ll be tough for Thomas Tuchel to do a bad job, with the squad he has at his disposal’ Former Three Lions winger backs new boss after gentle qualifying draw