MANCHESTER (Sporting Alert) — Wayne Rooney will start for Manchester United against Chelsea in Sunday’s English FA Cup quarterfinal clash at Old Trafford.
Rooney was left on the bench in midweek in Man United’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid, but manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed the England international will return to starting side on Sunday.
Ferguson also dismissed reports that the forward would leave the Premier League leaders in the summer – adding that Rooney’s future is at Old Trafford and his future is long-term.
However, veteran midfielder Ryan Giggs will miss this game after making his 1,000 senior competitive appearance against Real Madrid on Tuesday night.
Antonio Valencia will likely start, while Ashley Young could replace Nani. Javier Hernandez is also expected to start, so too is Shinji Kagawa.
Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez is yet to decide on whether to start captain and defender John Terry in the contest.
Forward Demba Ba could replace the miss firing Fernando Torres, who like Terry featured in Thursday night’s Europa League 1-0 loss at Steaua Bucharest.
TEAMS
Manchester United (squad): De Gea, Lindegaard, Amos, Rafael, Smalling, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Buttner, Nani, Valencia, Carrick, Cleverley, Anderson, Young, Kagawa, Welbeck, Rooney, Hernandez, Van Persie.
Chelsea (squad): Cech, Turnbull, Hilario, Ivanovic, Ferreira, Cole, Bertrand, Luiz, Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Ramires, Oscar, Mata, Benayoun, Mikel, Moses, Lampard, Hazard, Marin, Torres, Ba, Ake.
The author of this article Mark Morrison writes, "could replace the miss firing Fernando Torres" and cannot even spell. It is not miss firing, it is misfiring…terrible.
How can anyone take these article seriously when they are not even edited…