Fergie to gamble on second string Devils

ALEX FERGUSON is ready to take a Carling Cup risk at Blackburn tonight to ensure Manchester United are fully primed for their derby-day trip to Eastlands.

United face a lunchtime battle with Manchester City on Saturday when local pride is on the line as well as an opportunity to cut Chelsea’s massive Premiership lead to 10 points.

Having been forced to rely on Edwin van der Sar’s last-gasp save to deny City victory at Old Trafford earlier in the season, Ferguson is in no mood to hand over more points to the Red Devils’ local rivals.

So, although his side could take a massive step towards next month’s Carling Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium by winning at Ewood Park, Ferguson is prepared to field a below-strength side for the first leg encounter in order to keep some of his key men fresh for the weekend test.

“Blackburn will play their strongest side tomorrow but we won’t,” said Ferguson. “I will make changes from the FA Cup game at Burton because I have to look at the City match on Saturday morning.”

Whether Ferguson’s side is as weak as he is suggesting remains to be seen. Of the side that started Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Burton, only Mikael Silvestre and Wes Brown would be regarded as first choice and the arrival of Patrice Evra is expected to nudge one of them out of Ferguson’s preferred line-up.

Ferguson’s strategy is still a gamble, given United are out of the Champions League and have little chance of overhauling Chelsea in the title race.

Yet he adopted a similar attitude for the quarter-final tie at Birmingham and came away from St Andrews with a comfortable win. Since then, he has reinforced his squad with the combined £12 million (€17 million) additions of Evra and Serbian centre-half Nemanja Vidic.

Vidic’s lack of recent match practice following the end of his season with Spartak Moscow in November means he will not be considered for tonight’s match but Evra could be handed an immediate debut.

Ferguson wants Evra to fill the left-back void created by Gabriel Heinze’s cruciate injury and the United boss has no fears about pitching the 24-year-old straight into the action.

United defeated Blackburn at the same stage of the competition three seasons ago but their recent record against Rovers is not good. The Red Devils have not won against Rovers in four attempts, Mark Hughes is unbeaten in two outings against his former club since replacing Graeme Souness as manager and Rovers already beat United at Old Trafford this season.

But Ferguson believes his own side have contributed to their downfall by failing to take their chances, a problem he insists has been rectified.

“Blackburn are a hard team to play against,” he said. “Mark Hughes revitalised them when he joined the club last year.

“But our recent goalscoring ratio suggests we are starting to get to grips with our problems now, so hopefully we will get the right mix tomorrow and the right result.”