Michael Owen out for 3 weeks due to a groin injury

Michael Owen is one of the unluckiest footballers to have an injury just before you need to perform well

Owen, 29, had been hoping for a recall to Fabio Capello's England squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine and Belarus next month.

The striker picked up a groin injury over the weekend but had declared himself fit for the game against Wolfsburg but he was forced off after just 20 minutes.

"He felt his groin after training on Sunday and he trained a little bit on Monday but had a rest day on Tuesday and he thought he was fine," United manager Alex Ferguson said.

"But groins are groins and on a wet surface he turned quickly and it's gone again so we had to take him off.

"It's not a serious one but groin injuries can be troublesome and maybe two to three weeks. The only good part of it is his fitness levels are very good so he shouldn't need to worry too much about that."

Giggs celebrates 150th time for United against Wolfesburg + Match Review

The Knight of Manchester United

United 2-1 Wolfesburg

Ryan Giggs scored his 150th Manchester United goal and set up Michael Carrick's winner as the English champions beat Wolfsburg 2-1 on Wednesday to go top of Champions League Group B.

Edin Dzeko headed the German champions in front in the 56th minute, but the 35-year-old Giggs hit back inside three minutes with a free kick that took a huge deflection.

Giggs, who made his United debut in 1991, teed up Carrick's strike in the 78th on a rain-soaked night at Old Trafford.

Having won their opening two matches, the Red Devils enjoy a three-point lead over Wolfsburg and CSKA Moscow, which beat Besiktas 2-1 in Wednesday's other group match.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson had sprung a couple of surprises by opting for Tomasz Kuszczak in goal over Ben Foster and starting striker Michael Owen instead of Dimitar Berbatov.

So, while visiting England coach Fabio Capello was denied a chance to check on the progress of the error-prone Foster, this was Owen's opportunity to argue his case for a return from international exile. However, the 29-year-old Owen lasted just 20 minutes before a lingering groin strain flared up again, and Berbatov was restored to his usual place alongside Wayne Rooney.

Berbatov's arrival was immediately telling, injecting flair after what had been a tepid start by the three-time European champions, who are chasing a third successive final. The Bulgaria forward had only been on the pitch five minutes when he sent a neat backheeled flick through to Antonio Valencia. The Ecuador winger, who has not scored since joining United in the offseason, struck wide when he had only goalkeeper Diego Benaglio to beat.

Berbatov turned provider again, squeezing the ball through a crowded defense to Carrick, but Benaglio came off his line to close down the England midfielder and block the shot with his right leg.

Unlike the rain, the initial threat from the Germans had subsided, and at halftime Ferguson appealed for "a bit of patience in the final third." Ten minutes into the second period, Anderson was released clear on goal but was denied by Benaglio's quick reaction save. And within a minute, the Germans took the lead despite having provided little threat since their early probing.

Makoto Hasebe beat United center back Rio Ferdinand to whip in a cross to the far post, where Edin Dzeko rose above Patrice Evra to nod into the net off the inside of the post. Facing a first European loss at Old Trafford since February 2008, the Red Devils were behind for less than four minutes -- thanks to a lucky deflection.

After Wolfsburg captain Josue conceded a free kick by fouling Anderson, Giggs' strike was diverted by Christian Gentner in the opposite direction to score.

Giggs found the net again in the 69th only to be adjudged offside, but Carrick put United in front in the 78th. Rooney, who had a quiet game five years and a day after his United debut, played the ball back to Giggs, who slipped it for Carrick to curl into the net.

Carrick stole the win from Wolfesburg with an incredible finish!

Player Ratings

1) Ryan Giggs - 9 - Aced the game entirely

2) Evra- 8

3) Vidic- 7

4) Ferdinand -6

5) Kuzsack - 6

6) O' Shea - 6

7) Carrick- 8

8) Fletcher (in)-7

9) Valencia (out)- 6

10) Rooney- 7

11) Anderson -6

12) Owen (OUT) -5 - Hard to judge him in 20 minutes, missed a header from Giggs completely!

13) Berbatov (IN)- 7 - looked very impressive with the elegant passes and flicks and his pass to giggs turned out to be the most crucial moment of the game!

Catch us again for the weekend's game against Sunderland at home. KO at 17.30 BST Take care!

United fan banished for 3 years over Bellamy incident

A Manchester United fan who ran onto the field and was pushed in the face by Manchester City striker Craig Bellamy has been fined and banned from games for three years.

Jake Clarke broke through security staff to get onto the field toward the end of United's 4-3 victory over City last Sunday and was arrested after he was pushed by the player.

The 21-year-old fan was charged with going onto a playing area without permission and magistrates at Old Trafford in Manchester on Wednesday fined him £220 and imposed the banning order. No action has been taken against Bellamy and is highly unlikely

Owen Hargreaves should be back in November!

Hargreaves, who last played a year ago, has already started football training

Owen Hargreaves has made a positive start to his United comeback bid. After more than 12 months on the sidelines following ground-breaking surgery on both knees to combat a tendinitis problem, Hargreaves has now returned to United's Carrington training complex.

The midfielder, who has been beset by the condition since before his £18m move from Bayern Munich, is currently in the middle of a handover process between his US-based physio, who has guided his rehabilitation so far, and the United medical staff.

Once that is complete, Hargreaves should be able to continue his recovery programme at Carrington and begin football training within a couple of weeks. If that goes well, the 28-year-old may be fit enough to play again in November.

Sir Alex is acutely aware these are early days for Hargreaves, who could yet force his way into Fabio Capello's World Cup plans. However, the United manager confirmed Hargreaves' development is currently going according to plan. "Owen is doing very well," he said. "Obviously he is delighted to be back because it has been such a long time and I am very pleased with his progress. We will probably get him into football training in 10 days' time and depending on how well he does he should be back at the beginning of November."

United thrash Stoke, courtesy Sir Ryan Giggs + Match Highlights

Full time score: Man United 2- 0 Stoke City

Giggsy once again proved like the father of Manchester United's attack during his most recent performance against Stoke City. He was brought on the pitch when the game was heading towards a boring draw. As soon as he stepped on the field, two goals came for United in a quick succession.

Inference: He is a *HERO*! A real RED DEVIL.. something every United player should look forward to as a role model.

United really under-played the 1st half with some easy and poor finishes. Nani looked terrible at times and must be repenting on his bad performance. Valencia missed on a dream break and failed to score a sitter. The GK must be the happiest man at that time. There were a couple other chances that United missed.

2nd half proved great for United, with Ryan Giggs passing the ball magically and posing a great threat to Stoke. He gave an excellent pass to B'tov and the Bulgarian did no mistake in putting it behind the net. He has scored these kind of goals very regularly. He pointed towards Giggs during his goal celebration as a token of thanks and immense respect.

O'Shea scored off an excellent header from a wonderful free kick of Giggs. Giggs himself missed on scoring his 150th goal while lobbing the ball over GK but failed to do so. He seemed very frustrated.

Watch the match highlights (abt 10 minutes) in a great quality!

Rooney eyes another 10 years in the No. 10 t-shirt!

Almost five years on from scoring a hat-trick on his Manchester United debut, Wayne Rooney has said he wants to emulate the careers of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes and play on at Old Trafford for another decade.

Rooney has played 247 games for United, scored 104 goals and firmly established himself as a supporters' favourite among the Old Trafford contingent. And now, the England striker wants to spend the rest of his playing days helping United secure more silverware.

His first three goals for United came in a dramatic debut-night hat-trick against Fenerbahce in the Champions League, heralding his £27million arrival from Everton.

Following the summer departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney appreciated that the pressure to fill the goalscoring void left behind by the Portuguese winger would fall on him, and having already netted six times in seven games, he has not disappointed.

After such a successful start to the season, Rooney is setting his sights on wearing the United No 10 shirt for another 10 years.

SAF didn't run out of words while describing the abilities of Rooney-

"He is blessed with some ingredients only great footballers have.

"He has a great determination and hunger to win every match and every training session. That will never change.

"He plays as if he means it. It is a wonderful thing to have."

"When we signed him as a kid, we thought he would become a really top player. Without question he is going in that direction.

All eyes will be on the former Everton Striker who is set to make his 50th European appearance today when Manchester United entertain German champions Wolfsburg in Champions League Group B.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg Preview

Manchester United v Wolfsburg

Old Trafford

Kick-off: 19.45 BST

TV: ITV1 7.30pm, ITV HD 7.30pm

Wolfsburg coach Armin Veh, meanwhile, insists his team "will not hide" at Old Trafford today.

The Wolves stunned German football last season by holding off the challenges of far better known rivals to clinch the Bundesliga.

Their reward is a Champions League debut and, after opening their campaign by defeating CSKA Moscow, they are now preparing to enter one of the citadels of the game.

Veh admits he cannot be sure how his team will react, but he does not expect any sense of inferiority. And neither does he feel they will be scared.

"Old Trafford is a special ground and Manchester United is a very special club," said Veh.

"They have played over 150 games in this competition and we have only had a couple.

"But we will not hide and I won't be losing any sleep thinking about it.

"It is impossible to say for certain whether the players will be inspired or afraid. But I do know we cannot afford to wait until Manchester United have scored four or five goals before we start to impose our own style on the match."

Veh is not expecting a problem. In fact, he feels a myth has grown up around Old Trafford.

"When people talk about atmospheres, the best ones are in Germany," he added.

"We experience those crowds every week, so in describing the atmosphere at Old Trafford, it is more to do with the legend of United, rather than the stadium itself."

But the tough battle will be between Nemanja Vidic (who performed excellently against Stoke City) and Edin Dzeko (who looks in a stunning form)

Bosnian forward Dzeko possesses a fearsome strike record. 26 Bundesliga goals last season and 14 in 18 appearances for his country. The 6ft 5ins forward will test the aerial prowess of Vidic to the hilt and the Serbian defender faces one of his most difficult evenings in a United shirt.

Probable 11's

Manchester United (4-4-2): Foster; O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Giggs; Rooney, Berbatov.

Wolfsburg (4-4-2):

Benaglio; Riether, Barzagli, Madlung, Schafer; Josue, Hasebe, Gentner, Misimovic; Grafite, Dzeko.

Referee: V. Kassai (Hungary) How much extra time will be given to United today? :D

Tevez would like to celebrate his "future" goals against United (if any lol)

Carlos Tevez chose not to celebrate his goals against West Ham, but the Manchester City striker is determined to enjoy the moment should he score against Manchester United

Here is what Tevez says-

'"In the derby against United I had also decided not to celebrate our goals but, after the bad treatment I received from the supporters that day, I have changed my stance on that. If I score in the next derby then I am sure that I will celebrate.'"

10 men United proceed to the 4th round of Carling Cup

Manchester United 1-0 Wolves

Danny Welbeck celebrates his winner in front of an adoring Old Trafford crowd

Danny Welbeck marked his first start of the season with the winning goal as 10-man Manchester United edged past Wolves into the Carling Cup fourth round.

The 18 year old was set free by a superb Michael Owen pass and he slotted in to send the holders through.

Hard to find empty seats at OT. It happened during the 3rd round of Carling Cup

That came after Fabio da Silva (29') had seen red for a deliberate foul on Michael Kightly, who was clean through on goal. The red card upsetted the champions as they still had an hour to more in the game. According to me, it was an inevitable and a straight red card and still the Brazilian hardly moved back to the bench. He was asked by Gary Neville to do so - "Get off quick son!"

"Get off Quick Son"

"Off you go boy"

De Laet was brought on the pitch for Federico Macheda after jus 30 minutes which was rather shocking to me! The Belgium player undoubtedly looked impressive but what happened to Macheda?

But Wolves played their part in a fine game, David Jones and Kevin Doyle both forcing saves from Tomasz Kuszczak.The Premier League new-boys lived up to their pre-match word that they would go for the victory at Old Trafford, despite not having won a top-flight match there in almost 30 years.

However, with eight full internationals on the pitch, United had plenty of ammunition to hurt their visitors and Nani and Owen, in particular, took the game to the visitors early on.

Nani didnt look as threatening as he was couple of games before with poor quality passes in the opponent's box. Not that Wolves were overawed, and they were happy to throw numbers forward whenever possible, with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake going closer than anyone to breaking the deadlock when his shot from 20 yards dipped inches over the bar.

Owen and Berra in action

Jones forced a fine save from Kuszczak from the resulting free-kick, but ironically, it prompted United's best spell of the first half and Owen should have done better with a header six yards out from Gary Neville's cross. (34') Throughout the game, Owen was hardly given any chances and when he was provided one he missed it. He was off-side a couple of times if not more and looked average.

A Neville error then let in Jones (41') , only for the former Red Devil to clip well over with just Kuszczak to beat.

The pattern continued in the second half, with United pushing and probing but lacking quality in the final third, and Wolves occasionally threatening on the break.

That was until Welbeck's intervention, the young striker getting on the end of a superb clipped pass from Owen and slamming home to cap the move of the night. (66')

Danny Welbeck was replaced by Josh King.

Darren Gibson looked impressive throughout the whole match with his long range shots but failed to convert them into a goal.

Wolves responded by bringing on strike pair Doyle and Andy Keogh, and the former twice came close to a leveller.

But despite largely dominating possession and territory as the match drew to a close, they could not force a breakthrough and United held on to make it six wins on the trot in all competitions.

United take on Wolves tonight

Kick-Off: Wednesday, September 23, 20:00 BST

Old Trafford, Manchester.

Manchester United welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to Old Trafford in this midweek Carling Cup tie. Both United and Wolves enjoyed wins at the weekend, boosting both squads for this encounter that could provide some excitement.

Manchester United overcame cross-town rivals Manchester City 4-3 courtesy of a late, late winner by Michael Owen. The super-sub’s first goal at Old Trafford won’t soon be forgotten, in what many are calling one of the greatest Manchester derby’s of all time. Sir Alex Ferguson was noticeably pleased when Owen scored the winner nearly seven minutes into stoppage time, but the Scot will be hoping the same won’t be required when Wolves come scratching at the door.

Mick McCarthy’s side enjoyed a considerable win over Fulham at the weekend, bringing victory to the Molineux for the first time in the Premier League this season. Several key figures returned to the squad from injury including last season’s leading scorer Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, while Kevin Doyle looks to build off an impressive performance against Fulham.

FORM GUIDE

Manchester United

Wigan 0-5 Manchester United (EPL)

Manchester United 2-1 Arsenal (EPL)

Tottenham 1-3 Manchester United (EPL)

Besiktas 0-1 Manchester United (CL)

Manchester United 4-3 Manchester City (EPL)

1 word- AWESOME!

Wolverhampton

Manchester City 1-0 Wolverhampton (EPL)

Wolverhampton 0-0 (6-5 pens) Swindon Town (League Cup)

Wolverhampton 1-1 Hull City (EPL)

Blackburn 3-1 Wolverhampton (EPL)

Wolverhampton 3-1 Fulham (EPL)

Average start for the wolves.

TEAM NEWS

Manchester United

1) Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to name a modified squad from the one that lined-up against Manchester City.

2) The likes of Danny Welbeck and Darron Gibson are likely to get a chance to impress against Wolverhampton.

3) Michael Owen could also receive a starting birth after coming on to win the Manchester derby through his late heroics.

Starting 11: Kuszczak, Neville, Brown, Evans, Fabio,

Welbeck

, Carrick, Gibson, Nani

,

Macheda, Owen.

Subs: Amos, Ferdinand, Valencia, Tosic, King, Eikrem

Wolverhampton Wanderers

1) Richard Stearman and Andrew Surman are injury doubts ahead of Wolves encounter with United at Old Trafford.

2) Stearman has sustained an ankle injury in training.

3) Similarly, Surman is waiting on news from a knee injury he picked up in training.

Squad: Hennessey, Hahnemann, Ikeme, Foley, Berra, Stearman, Zubar, Craddock, Elokobi, Hill, Kightly, Halford, Surman, Henry, Milijas, Castillo, Jones, Edwards, Jarvis, Ebanks-Blake, Maierhofer, Keogh, Vokes, Doyle.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Manchester United

While many Manchester United players shined in the Manchester derby, Rio Ferdinand suffered through a forgettable performance that saw him at fault for at least one of Manchester City’s goals. After just recently returning from injury, it will be interesting to see how long it takes the England international to find his form again.

Wolverhampton

Striker Kevin Doyle looks to finally get his Wolverhampton career going after leading Wolves to a win over Fulham at the weekend. The former Reading striker looked to be struggling for form under Mick McCarthy, but Wolves fans will be hoping the Fulham win is a sign of good things to come.

PREDICTION

As Manchester City found out last weekend, it is never easy to play at Old Trafford, even when the visiting team is able to score three goals.

Mick McCarthy’s side are more than capable of pulling out an upset, and it must be noted that United have already fallen this season to Premier League newcomers Burnley. While Wolves are capable, the fact that United have won the League Cup two out of the last four seasons might dent their chances of securing an upset.

Even though Ferguson is expected to name a slightly younger side, it is hard to bet on the reigning Premier League champions being dumped out of the League Cup at this stage in the competition at home.

Manchester United 2-0 Wolverhampton