Sir Alex Ferguson believes the strength in depth of his Manchester United squad can cope with most eventualities. The Red Devils will be without three key midfielders for their weekend trip to Blackburn, but Ferguson does not believe they will be severely weakened at Ewood Park.

"The squad is a very, very strong squad," he stated. "You can see that now with the players I have out at the moment, three midfielders Carrick, Hargreaves and Scholes.

"Then you see John O'Shea on Tuesday night who was excellent, along with Anderson, Giggs and Fletcher. Possebon's injured at the moment and there's also young Darron Gibson. I'm blessed with the fact that I've got a strong squad and we should cope.

"The form is getting better. You can see that. There was some good football played on Tuesday night. It's not easy to win easily away from home in Europe, but we won easily on Tuesday night and that's a good sign to see."