Brown gets nod for Anfield trip

MANCHESTER United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will turn to Wes Brown to fill the defensive void left by the suspension of Nemanja Vidic following the Serbian's dismissal in last night's damaging loss at Chelsea.

Vidic was sent off in the final minutes of the 2–1 defeat at Stamford Bridge, which means United will be without either of their first–choice centre–halves for Sunday's Barclays Premier League game at Liverpool.

Rio Ferdinand is still troubled by the calf injury he sustained in the warm–up prior to the defeat at Wolves a month ago, so Brown will fill the central defensive vacancy alongside youngster Chris Smalling.

United will head to Merseyside under some degree of pressure following their second Premier League reverse of the campaign.

Though they retain a healthy 12–point advantage over Chelsea, the gap to nearest challengers Arsenal is only four, and both clubs now have a game in hand on Ferguson's men.

According to the Red Devils boss, the man to blame for United finding themselves in this predicament is last night's referee, Martin Atkinson.

Ferguson was not happy to learn the Yorkshireman was in charge given the lingering resentment at John Terry's winner in the corresponding fixture last season.

The United boss was incensed after Atkinson played on after a trip by Chelsea scorer David Luiz on Wayne Rooney that could have resulted in a red card before awarding Yuri Zhirkov a "soft" penalty when he tumbled under Smalling's challenge moments later.

Frank Lampard converted the spot–kick to extend the champions’ unbeaten home record over United to nine seasons and leave Ferguson furious.