Roo-who?

It was the sight all Manchester United and England fans were fearing, when Wayne Rooney writhed on the pitch in pain on Tuesday night.

Since then he has been diagnosed with a sprained ankle, which is a relief to England fans especially as it is not long term. He is expected to be out for between two to four weeks in which time Manchester United could well be out of both the Champions League and the run-in for the Premier League.

Rooney has been instrumental for club and country, he has been United’s talisman this season and with him on the sidelines it falls to the rest of the team to keep there dreams alive. My main fear is that besides Rooney, we lack a goalscorer with Michael Owen also out it falls to Dimitar Berbatov. I once loved the class and guile of his touch, but this season he has ended up going backwards purely down to his goal threat being near enough non-existent.

Against Chelsea on Saturday and Bayern Munich on the Wednesday United need a driving force, there team spirit will be tested to its fullest and some players need to step up to the plate which is Old Trafford. The Theatre of Dreams will host both matches which is a huge advantage, but I am still concerned over who will score our goals for both matches.

Perhaps it is time for United fans to queue in Martin Tyler once more as he screamed Frederico Macheda’s name last season following his late surge onto the English football scene. Or perhaps Mame Diouf will cause an upset, yet it is more likely to be that one of our rising star’s will get the match winner.

Nani has had a season of ups and downs after his media outburst about his boss, yet he has fully redeemed himself with fine form and earnt himself a new contract. The United boss said: “He has great potential.” Now Sir Alex doesn’t make statements that are wrong very often, we have seen Nani grow and develop into a fine professional, his consistency has vastly improved and his class is evident. Just look at the way he picked apart Arsenal and Bolton, he is our main threat and could cause Chelsea all sorts of problems as they are missing Ashley Cole.

I only hope that the next two matches go down in United’s History as memoriable victories rather than the fading point of our season.

My starting eleven against Chelsea – Van der Sar, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Neville, Nani, Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Park, Berbatov