O’Shea: Nani should have been on the PFA shortlist

JOHN O’SHEA cannot believe Manchester United team-mate Nani has not been nominated for the PFA player of the year award.

The Portugal winger is top of the Premier League assists chart in addition to bagging 10 goals in United’s relentless pursuit of the treble.

“I am pretty amazed by that,” said O’Shea.

“Maybe because he was still eligible for the young player, people didn’t vote for him for the senior player.

“He is a constant threat. Defenders don’t know whether he is going to go on his left and his right and his combination with Patrice Evra was excellent.”

United are now in the happy position of knowing five victories from their final six games will be enough to confirm a record 19th league title.

O’Shea will hope to play a meaningful role against Chelsea tomorrow after recovering from the hamstring injury he suffered during the second leg of the last-16 Champions League encounter with Marseille last month to make his 26th appearance of the season.

“I am back a week or two ahead of schedule,” revealed the Republic of Ireland international.

“I just worked very hard with the physios and thankfully, they were able to get me back that bit quicker.

“I was just a little bit cautious today because I didn’t want to go hell for leather so soon.

“It was a great game to get my confidence back and give the manager an option for the games ahead.”

Having made eight changes to his starting line-up on Saturday, a similar number can be expected tomorrow.

The statistics favour United.

On seven of their last 10 meetings at Old Trafford, Ferguson’s side gained a result that would put them into the last four, whilst they have never lost a two-legged Champions League tie having won the away leg first.

“You have to get excited about games such as this,” said O’Shea.

“That is what you train all year for. You want to get to the latter stages of competitions. It is perfect.”