Rio fit for derby

Sir Alex has revealed all 23 players who travelled to Romania in midweek returned to Carrington fully fit and available for Sunday’s Manchester derby.
The boss will also be able to call on Rio Ferdinand, who was left behind for the trip to Eastern Europe as a precautionary measure.

“We left Rio behind because we didn’t feel we’d use him,” the Reds boss said. “Everyone is fit and obviously the City game is an exciting prospect.

“I think City are doing fantastically well. If they hadn’t thrown away a two-goal lead at Fulham they’d have a 100 per cent record. It could be quite a game on Sunday and I’m looking forward to it.”

City are enjoying their best start to a league campaign since 1897 and go into the match, unusually, ahead of United in the table. A City victory would leave Roberto Mancini’s men five points clear of the Reds.

It’s a scenario Sir Alex doesn’t want to think about, although he insists there would still be plenty of time to close the gap.

“You can only judge it at the end of the reason, in terms of the bearing [this game could have] on the title race," he said. "Whichever team wins, it will make a difference,” he said. “But it’s still early doors and we can recover from that, no doubt about that."

Derbies in recent years have been full of excitement and late drama. All of them, that is, except last season's first meeting, a goalless draw at Eastlands.
The United manager is confident, however, that this term's first league meeting will prove more
appealing.
"The 0-0 at City was a damp squib and nothing happened in that match, but it's not normal for these games. Usually, they're full of incident and we've had two or three quite exceptional games against City, particularly in the cup ties.
"Sometimes derbies are disappointing. Last Saturday against Liverpool, for an hour-and-a-quarter, nothing happened, but once a goal was scored it was a great game. Goals change the complexion of a match and you can get a reaction when a team goes behind. It could happen on Sunday, but who knows?"
One thing Sir Alex is certain about is that City's billing as title contenders is here to stay.

“We've had to accept [similar] challenges time and time again. This is another situation and we have to do something about it. It's the type of challenge we have accepted well over the years.

"You don't want to be behind clubs but we were for a couple of years with Chelsea. We showed vigor and determination and decision-making, which put us back in front of them."