Ferdinand may miss rest of season

Alex Ferguson insists Manchester United are in better shape to handle their defensive injury crisis than they were last December despite raising the spectre of Rio Ferdinand missing the remainder of the campaign.

After being at the centre of a will-he, won’t-he debate about whether he will keep the England captaincy this week, the issue around Ferdinand has now switched to if the 32-year-old will be back in action before the season’s end.