Robin van Persie has been declared fit for Manchester United as the Reds look to get back to winning ways against West Brom at Old Trafford tomorrow.
The Dutch striker suffered a groin injury before Manchester United’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester City last Sunday, but David Moyes has said the Dutchman will play some part on Saturday.
The United boss is also confident England midfielder Tom Cleverley will be able to feature against the Baggies.
“Robin will be back involved somewhere. He has trained today, whether we use him, whether we don’t he is back fit,” the Scot said in today’s press conference.
“Tom has done a bit of training today as well. His injury is not too serious. He sort of rocked his knee in training and we were a bit worried, but he’s had no reaction from it. He’s done some training today and won’t be too far away tomorrow as well.”
Moyes was pleased with the way his players responded in Wednesday’s Carling Cup victory over Liverpool and he wants them to do the same on Saturday.
“The players showed they were hurt. We’ll try to give the fans something to shout about again tomorrow,” he said.
The last meeting between United and West Brom finished in a 5-5 draw in Sir Alex Ferguson’s last match in charge of United while the last fixture at Old Trafford ended in a 2-0 United win, where Van Persie was among the goalscorers.
Baggies boss Steve Clarke will bring up his half-century of matches as head coach on the back of draws at Everton and Fulham in Albion’s last two outings on the road and is confident going into the game at Old Trafford.
“I’ve never been afraid of going to Old Trafford,” said Clarke at his Thursday press conference.
West Brom are set to welcome back Claudio Yacob from injury and Clarke is confident Victor Anichebe and Nicolas Anelka will shake off knocks in time for Saturday.
However, the Baggies will be without Chris Brunt, Matej Vydra, Zoltan Gera and Ben Foster.
West Brom have never won at Old Trafford in the Premier League, their last league victory away to United was in 1978 where the Baggies ran out 5-3 winners.
A defeat on Saturday though would leave United with their lowest ever points tally after six games of a Premier League season, and would represent their worst top-flight start since 1989-90.
Image courtesy of #5 magazine via youtube, with thanks
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