Rooney ready to return

02 January 2012 22:46

Manchester United are set to welcome back striker Wayne Rooney for the Barclays Premier League clash at Newcastle on Wednesday.

Press Association Sport understands Ferguson fined Rooney, and Republic of Ireland international Darron Gibson, and forced the pair to train on their day off last week after ill-advised conduct on Boxing Day night. Neither the club nor the player's representative would confirm Rooney was axed from Saturday's 3-2 defeat to Blackburn as part of his punishment.

Ferguson told Sirius XM radio station: "We're trying hard to get Rio Ferdinand for (Wednesday) and Ryan Giggs which would make a good difference to us. Anderson should be better, he had 45 minutes on Saturday after four months out. There are no other ones to come back immediately. And Wayne Rooney will be available of course."

He added: "We had a few training sessions which he missed. You've got to be fit to play in this league, you can't miss training sessions."

Asked about United's injury problems, which have also included the loss of defender Nemanja Vidic for the rest of the season, Ferguson added: "We're getting a lot of impact injuries, contact injuries. Maybe the way we play creates that because we're always wanting to have the ball and we're always wanting to play."

Source: PA