Rio ruled out for United

Ferdinand: Struggling with calf problem

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Rio Ferdinand has been ruled out of Manchester United's top of the table match at Chelsea after failing to recover from a calf injury.

The defender has missed the champions' last three games having suffered the problem in the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.

However after showing no signs of improvement manager Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that the club's medical staff were now looking to see if the injury is linked to the 31-year-old's long standing back problem.

Following team-mate Wes Brown's comments earlier this week that Ferdinand had been playing through the pain regarding his back, it has been suggested that surgery may be required.

"There has been no improvement," Ferguson said.

"We are having to look at something different because usually you are back from a calf injury within two or three weeks.

"But there is no sign of recovery from this injury so we are looking at whether it is to do with his lower back."

Improvement

Meanwhile Ferguson celebrates 23 years at Old Trafford on Friday and would like nothing more than to mark the occasion with a win at Stamford Bridge and go back to the top of the table as a result.

However the Red Devils have failed to win in West London in their last seven trips to the capital, a record that Ferguson wants to improve.

"I don't think so," the Scot said when asked whether his desire is lessening with the years. "Whether other people judge it differently, I don't know.

"But in the main, I have been lucky. I have had my health and that's all you can be thankful for. As you get older, there are different deteriorations in health, maybe small things, you can't avoid it. But, as I say, I have been lucky.

"Chelsea is a big game and, hopefully, we can improve our record down there because it has not been good the last six years or so. I think the players realise it is a big game and their performance is going to be important."

Tribute

The United boss also paid tribute to Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti for the job he has done in the short time he has been at the helm.

"Carlo Ancelotti was a great coach at AC Milan, and a great player also, and brought a wealth of experience and knowledge with him.

"I thought he would do well but the change he has brought is a different system to what Chelsea used in the past and it seems to have worked well.

"They have a very, very experienced team and when you've got experienced players maybe it is easier to adapt because, generally, they have more tactical knowledge than younger players. That's maybe been a bonus to them.

"The two years Chelsea won the league [2005 and 2006], they got off to great starts and caught us all on the hop.

"We had to change our ideas about pre-season training because they had such good starts."