Vidic considered for Anfield clash

Sir Alex Ferguson is pondering whether to hand captain Nemanja Vidic his United return at Liverpool on Saturday.

The centre-back played for Serbia on Tuesday night in Slovenia after being sidelined since the opening weekend win at West Brom and the length of his absence is causing the boss to place a question mark over his involvement at Anfield.

The final decision could come down to how the player feels in himself, although Jonny Evans has performed well and is a reliable alternative for the boss as he's available after missing the recent Northern Ireland internationals with an ankle problem.

"The big question mark is whether Vidic is ready," said the boss at his pre-match press conference. "He has his first game for Serbia on Tuesday. It’s certainly a consideration because he’s such a great competitor. He came in yesterday and felt okay. But the Liverpool game is such an intense, stamina-draining game that you want everyone to be 100 per cent so it might be more down to how he feels himself.

"Jonny Evans’s form has been absolutely brilliant so I don’t have any real concerns about who I play because they’re all playing well."

Tom Cleverley is still not fit enough to be considered for the match on Merseyside but there's encouraging news on right-back Rafael, who is back in full training ahead of schedule. No other fresh injuries were picked up during the international break, which Sir Alex describes as a "blessing" particularly with Fabio, Ashley Young and Patrice Evra all suffering knocks last Friday.