Boss Relieved By Timely Break

While international breaks are often little more than a hindrance to Sir Alex Ferguson’s plans, the United manager admits the current gap in the domestic calendar is a welcome reprieve.

Having sidled past Bolton last Saturday with a patched up defence, the Reds’ depleted ranks were further thinned by the dismissal of Jonny Evans and an injury to Wes Brown.

Although an international fixture list is always fraught with the danger of more players succumbing to injury, the timely breather should allow a handful of squad members time to progress from treatment room to dressing room in time for next month's resumption of domestic duties.

“It’s come at an absolutely fantastic time for us,” Sir Alex told MUTV. “We’ve got the bonus of two weeks’ rest to patch up the injuries, and hopefully that'll be the biggest break of all.”

United go into the Premier League sabbatical with a five-point lead at the head of the table and Sir Alex feels the swelling of his playing roster can prove the difference in an absorbing title race.

“It’s a great lead,” he said. “Obviously they’ve got a game in hand, Arsenal, but we’ve got the points and we don’t need to worry about that part. If we get the players back, all our major players we’ll have a great chance.

“I’d have loved to have given Ji-sung Park a bit of game (against Bolton), but when we went to 10 men we were hamstrung a bit there, but I get Ji back in two weeks’ time, away at West Ham. Vidic will be back, Darren Fletcher hopefully will be back and hopefully if, bit by bit, we can get them all together we’ll have a great chance.”