Man Utd Pre-Aston Villa Team News: Young, Vidic & More…

Manchester United welcome Aston Villa to Old Trafford on Monday night looking to go one step closer to reclaiming the Premier League title.

United head into the weekend’s action having seen their 15-point lead cut to 13-points after a 2-2 draw at West Ham on Wednesday night so Sir Alex Ferguson will be keen to get back to winning ways and secure three of the six points his side need to guarantee title No.20.

The United boss has given his pre-match press conference on Friday morning and gave ManUtd.com a team news and injury update. Fergie confirmed that his players have a few ‘bumps and bruises’ following their tough fixture at Upton Park but the Scot expects to have the same squad available for this Monday’s clash.

Defender Nemanja Vidic has a bruised cheekbone following several tasty clashes with Andy Carroll but the Serb is expected to be in contention to face Villa. Here’s what Ferguson told the clubs website:

“We’ve got a few bumps and bruises from Wednesday, Vidic had got a beautiful bruise on his cheekbone and after coming out of that war zone, we’re quite happy no-one was seriously injured.

“The team were fantastic the other night in terms of standing up [to West Ham]. It’s the type of game you get with Big Sam [Allardyce]’s teams. We had to deal with it and I think a point was well deserved.

“Every game now seems to be more important than the last one. When you get nearer to that line that’s the way it is. I have the same squad for Monday and hopefully we’ll pick the right team.”

One player who didn’t feature against the Hammers was Ashley Young after he picked up an ankle injury against Manchester City two weeks ago.

The injury was initially expected to keep the winger out for around three weeks but it appears the problem is worse than first thought. Ferguson told the clubs official website that they took Young down to London in midweek to see a specialist who confirmed that the 27-year-old will now miss the rest of the season.

“Ashley is out for the season, It’s unfortunate and it’s a bad blow.

“We thought it’d be maybe two or three weeks but now he’s been down to the specialist and that’s why you saw him at the game on Wednesday.

“We took him down to a specialist in London and the prognosis was not very good at all. We’re going to lose him for the rest of the season.”

Young has seen his season hampered by a series of niggling injuries that have restricted him to just 17 starts, but his campaign has now been cut short by the latest problem and United will have to try and seal title No.20 without him.

Now we’ve seen the team news, what would be your starting eleven for the game? Get involved in the comments section below.