Young Wants Injury-free Run

Ashley Young is striving for an injury-free run to the end of the season.

The Manchester United winger has been frustrated by spells on the sidelines this term and hurt his knee in the win against Liverpool in a crunching challenge with Dan Agger back in January. A similarly robust tackle with Reading's Garath McCleary led to his substitution in the last Barclays Premier League outing.

However, the 27-year-old linked up with the England squad as planned and is hoping that he can play a big part in the run-in for the Reds.

"It's been very frustrating as a player when you're injured and seeing the other players training every day," he told MUTV's Inside Carrington programme. "It's where you want to be, not in the gym every day. You want to get yourself outside.

"For me, the injuries have been very disappointing and I just wanted to get myself back fit. Fingers crossed, from now until the end of the season, I can stay injury-free and get a run in the team."

Young is not a great watcher of matches from the stands and prefers to be in the thick of the action.

"I am a bad watcher," he admitted. "Anybody who has been sat next to me knows I'm not a good one to watch games. As long as I keep myself fit and stay in the team, I'm better off doing that than watching the games."