Players in for Villa

Sir Alex Ferguson is hoping to make Nemanja Vidic's birthday weekend by declaring him fit to face Aston Villa, while Edwin van der Sar has confirmed he could play.

Vidic, 26 on Sunday, was withdrawn from the Wigan game a fortnight ago after just 21 minutes, and he has since missed Serbia's Euro 2008 qualifiers against Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, the big defender could now return to action in United's trip to the Midlands.

“We don’t have many changes from Wigan. I’m hoping that Vida will be ready,” said the boss at his pre-match press conference.

Van der Sar limped off with a toe injury against Birmingham City, but he is also expected to return at Villa Park. However, the Reds are still without Owen Hargreaves, Gary Neville and Louis Saha. The Frenchman is still troubled by a knee injury, although he could make Tuesday's Champions League match with Dynamo Kyiv.

"Owen isn't ready," said the boss. "We've had to follow the procedures laid out by the doctor that gave him the injection, and part of that means he won't play against Aston Villa. I think after next Saturday (Middlesbrough) we'll be talking about him getting close then.

"Gary is doing very well," he added. "We've already had a few practice matches for him and we're trying to organise another for Wednesday to bring him on a bit. He's very close now. There was no set-back [when he missed the Liverpool Reserve game], it was too early."

Sir Alex happily had no new injuries to report as Rooney, Ferdinand, Ronaldo, Nani, Fletcher and O'Shea all returned fit after playing for their countries in midweek.