Bruised ankle allays fears of long lay-off for Tevez

Fears that Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez could be set for a long spell on the sidelines have eased after the club revealed he suffered only a bruised ankle in yesterday’s win over Birmingham.

The Argentina international, 23, was forced off the pitch after 71 minutes of the 1-0 win at Old Trafford and was then carried down the tunnel by two members of the backroom staff.

That raised fears that Tevez, who had earlier scored the winner, could even have suffered a broken ankle in a heavy challenge.

But a United spokesman told www.manutd.com this afternoon: “Nothing is broken, Carlos Tevez has just got a badly bruised right ankle.”

United boss Alex Ferguson admitted after yesterday's game that Tevez was a major concern for this weekend's FA Cup trip to Aston Villa, and that is not a situation that will have changed despite today's positive assessment.

Ferguson said yesterday: “It was a bad tackle and the longer the game went on, the worse the injury got.

“In the end, we had to bring Carlos off. We will assess him tomorrow to see what the damage is but he is doubtful for Saturday now.”

There is little need for the Scot to rush Tevez back into action given fellow striker Wayne Rooney is on track to face Martin O’Neill’s side after recovering from a virus which kept him out for two matches.