United pair eye recalls

Man Utd duo Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra will miss the home clash with Middlesbrough through injury and suspension.

Ferdinand suffered a back spasm in the warm-up ahead of the win over Stoke and will miss out again so Jonny Evans is set to continue alongside Nemanja Vidic at the back.

Evra remains banned for his part in the altercation with Chelsea's ground staff at the end of last season but Dimitar Berbatov could start for the first time after picking up a virus in Japan. Rafael is also pushing for a recall ahead of club captain Gary Neville.

The Red Devils are 10 points behind Liverpool but with two games in hand after tonight's clash with Boro and boss Sir Alex Ferguson wants his side to turn the screw.

He said: "We have a good strong squad and if we can go into the new year only a handful of points behind the leaders then we have a good chance of winning the Premier League again."