Rooney ready for Reds return

MANCHESTER United are set to welcome back striker Wayne Rooney for the Barclays Premier League clash at Newcastle United tomorrow.

Reds boss Sir Alex Ferguson expects to have the England forward available after he did not even make the substitutes’ bench for the 3–2 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers on New Year’s Eve.

It is understood Ferguson did fine Rooney, and Republic of Ireland international Darron Gibson, and forced the pair to train on their day off last week after ill–advised conduct on Boxing Day night.

Neither the club nor the player’s representative wished to elaborate on the matter, nor even to confirm Rooney was axed from Saturday’s 3–2 defeat to Rovers as part of his punishment.

United quickly need to regain their focus after being granted a Barclays Premier League reprieve thanks to Sunderland’s late win over leaders Manchester City.

Ferguson said: “We’re trying hard to get Rio Ferdinand for (Wednesday) and Ryan Giggs which would make a good difference to us.

“Anderson should be better, he had 45 minutes on Saturday after four months out. There are no other ones to come back immediately. And Wayne Rooney will be available of course.

“We had a few training sessions which he missed. You’ve got to be fit to play in this league, you can’t miss training sessions.”

Asked about United’s injury problems, which have also included the loss of defender Nemanja Vidic for the rest of the season, Ferguson added: “We're getting a lot of impact injuries, contact injuries. Maybe the way we play creates that because we’re always wanting to have the ball and we’re always wanting to play.”