Garry Neville, John O’Shea Picked up Injury During Manchester United’s Win over Portsmouth

(This entry was originally published on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009)

Two important defenders of Manchester United- Garry Neville and John O’Shea- have been sidelined during Manchester United’s midweek victory over Portsmouth at Old Trafford. Both of them were tackled badly and picked up two injuries which would keep the out of action for a number of weeks now. No doubt, losing the two key defenders for few weeks at this crucial stage of the competition is a big setback for the defending champions. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has expressed his fury over the referee Peter Walton for not giving the tacklers their deserved punishment.

Garry Neville has been injury prone over the last one year as they Red Devils captain missed lots of action with Manchester United due to series of injury problems. Though missing Neville would be a blow for United, John O’Shea’s absence would be felt more severely. Manchester United now needs to hold on to their current three-point lead at the top of the table for few more weeks to win the premier league title. Though missing the two defenders for few weeks is a big blow, I think, it would be very crucial to their title defense because Manchester United has a big squad with a number of quality options in every position on the field.

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