Injury blow for Ferdinand, Vidic

Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand will miss six weeks, while Nemanja Vidic could be out for a fortnight after both picked up injuries on Sunday.

Vidic was replaced by Jonny Evans after 52 minutes of United’s Premier League match with West Brom with what looked like a groin injury, while Phil Jones took Ferdinand’s place a quarter of an hour from the end after the 32-year-old hurt his hamstring in the 2-1 win.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed post-match Ferdinand will be out for more than a month, while defensive partner Vidic is likely to miss a couple of weeks.

“We’ve had a torrid two or three days because young Rafa (Rafael) did his shoulder in training on Friday (and) he’ll be out for 10 weeks because he’s going to have an operation,” he told Sky Sports.

“Rio will be six weeks. (Vidic) we don’t know if it’s a nerve or not, we’ll have that checked tomorrow, but he could be out for a couple of weeks.”

“But Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Jonny Evans – it’s a God-send to us. Patrice Evra will be back for next week so I’ve got options.”

Both Ferdinand and Vidic watched the rest of the game from the dugout, rather than heading down the tunnel for immediate treatment.

United’s defence for the rest of the match consisted of Smalling, Evans, Jones and Fabio in front of David de Gea in goal.