MANCHESTER, Aug 13 — Ben Foster and Wes Brown are likely to be fit for champions Manchester United’s opening Premier League game at home to Birmingham City after a close-season full of injuries and high-profile departures.

With first-choice goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar ruled out for several weeks with a broken finger, deputy Foster missed England’s midweek friendly against Netherlands due to a knock.

However, Foster is set to return on Sunday, as is defender Brown following his thigh injury.

With Nemanja Vidic poised for another week out, Nani a doubt with a shoulder problem, Gary Neville struggling with a groin injury and Owen Hargreaves still some way off a return, the availability of Foster and Brown would be a significant boost for manager Alex Ferguson.

United are notoriously slow starters and have failed to win on the opening day in three of the past five seasons.

Ferguson knows that following a close-season in which Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee of £80 million pounds (RM456 million) and Carlos Tevez left for Manchester City, United will be firmly in the spotlight.

The Scot has limited his spending, with winger Antonio Valencia arriving from Wigan Athletic, striker Michael Owen joining on a free transfer from Newcastle United and midfielder Gabriel Obertan signing from Girondins Bordeaux.


SHOCK MOVE

Ferguson has been frustrated by the big transfer fees paid out recently and refused to match what Real Madrid were prepared to splash on France forward Karim Benzema before making his shock move for Owen.

Although many fans believe United will struggle to match the achievements of recent seasons, Ferguson says his squad are up for the challenge of trying to become the first club to win four consecutive Premier League titles.

Having lost the Champions League final to Barcelona in May, the Old Trafford team will not be distracted by the Club World Cup in mid-season and Ferguson feels that could be an advantage.

“We’d like to do it,” said the Scot. “It would be a great achievement, obviously, because we all know what a difficult league it is.

“We accepted a good challenge last season, having to go to Japan for the Club World Cup in December and play catch-up.

“That was a great achievement to win it in the circumstances. But (this time) we don’t have it and we don’t have to play catch-up,” added Ferguson.

United are sure to miss Ronaldo’s goals but the players feel they will be an even more solid defensive unit as a result of the Portugal forward’s departure.

Ferguson expects striker Dimitar Berbatov to improve and is confident Owen will prove his worth.

“Our approach to him (Owen) has been to say to enjoy being here, enjoy the training, and he has not missed a session yet,” said United’s manager.

“He has operated really well in all the games so far. He has shown some really clever stuff and I have been really pleased with him.” — Reuters

Looks like the back starting line will be roughly like this if Evans rili cant recover back in time

De Laet - Rio - O'shea - Evra
(Cathcart, Fabio)

or

Fabio  - Rio - O'shea - Evra
(Cathcart, De Laet)

De Laet to start ahead of Fabio please! The kid's golden! Though, I heard he can play in numerous positions so he MIGHT stand in for Evans.

De Laet to start ahead of Fabio please! The kid's golden! Though, I heard he can play in numerous positions so he MIGHT stand in for Evans.

Yess I prefer him over Fabio.. love him since the first time i watch him(hull game).. 
But I prefer him to play as fullback bcoz he is evra type player.. JOS would be a better choice for CB..

Papers: Defensive headache
Utd website

Time for Cathcart to show his talent? but O'shea oso can play in the middle..
and that De Laet boy oso can play any position in backfour like o'shea too right? he has talent with him..

not another defender injury on the list
i think O'shea will play as CB and probably Rafael on the right

Ya, He's like the Mr. Wonder for all defender position. For now I think he not really suitable for centre back yet, as he looks like not strong enuff to block those ganas strikers in EPL yet.. hopefully our fitness coach soon can do some wonder on his body 
  Haha ya, I'm quite lucky enough to see some games he played (Hull and pre-season), he really looks promising enough to shine, tackle is very accurate in times, decision is good.And even his attacking ability is quite impressive when pre-season match!!! Hopefully he can step up as a main competitor for the back position now.. 

With the big kick-off looming, we asked Reds assistant Mike Phelan for his expectations of each established first-team player, starting with the goalkeepers…

1 Edwin van der Sar Age 38 Appearances 191
"Edwin’s probably the most experienced player in the team, so we’ll miss him in the first two months of the campaign. He’ll probably set his own targets in terms of what he wants to achieve this term, but he knows how highly we regard him as a goalkeeper at Manchester United. I think he’ll be looking forward to getting back playing again as soon as possible. Both Edwin and the club have been a good marriage. He was a terrific goalkeeper when he joined us but I think he’s made further progress since he arrived. Each year he seems to go up a level, he’s seen and done it all so he’s a major asset to us."

12 Ben Foster Age 26 Appearances 11
"Ben came into the game a little later than most goalkeepers, but has tremendous potential. He still has a lot of work to do in all the departments but he’s getting the right coaching at this club and he has a good person to learn from in Edwin. Ben’s a strong-willed character and has a firm idea about where he wants to be and how quickly he wants to get there – now it’s just a matter of time before he really shows his credentials. He’s been unlucky with a few injuries and he’s had a bit of a stop-start career, but he’s working hard now and I think he sees light at the end of the tunnel. That’s what he’s working towards. And the fact that he’s now progressing into the England international setup has probably encouraged him to work even harder."

29 Tomasz Kuszczak Age 27 Appearances 37
"I think Tomasz is probably the first Polish player to join this club and he’s accepted those responsibilities extremely well. He’s at a club where every goalkeeper is challenging for the no.1 spot and he’s certainly one of those who’s in with a shout. And whenever he’s been called upon he’s performed to the highest quality. I’m sure he’ll be pushing on from where he left off last season."

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