Welbeck injury adds to United’s anguish

DANNY Welbeck sparked an England Euro 2012 worry after leaving the Etihad Stadium wearing a protective boot on his ankle following Manchester United's 1–0 defeat.

Welbeck was caught by a nasty challenge from Nigel de Jong in the second–half, which led to a furious touchline row between Reds chief Sir Alex Ferguson and City boss Roberto Mancini.

If the damage is bad, it could have serious consequences for Welbeck’s place in the national European Championship squad.

Ferguson was certainly not happy with De Jong’s challenge, nor the manner in which Mancini was talking to fourth official Mike Jones. Jones stood between the pair at one point during the row to prevent it spilling over before they were eventually pulled apart by members of their respective backroom teams.

“He refereed the game,” said Ferguson. “He was out on that touchline the whole game haranguing the referee, the fourth official and the linesmen.

“The minute I come off the bench for bad tackle by De Jong on Welbeck, he was out again.”

Ferguson will have no doubt over where United lost their Premier League title if City win their next two games.



LOSING the the Barclays Premier League title on goal difference to rivals Manchester City would be Sir Alex Ferguson’s worst nightmare come true, according to former United defender Gary Neville.

Neville said: “Losing a championship on goal difference is what he always talks about, every single season.

“You never know whether it’s going to get to goal difference. You look at games like Fulham at home 1–0, QPR at home 2–0. It’s these sort of things you look back at during a season and think, ‘we could we have done more’.”





The full version of thos story is in tonight’s print and eChron editions