Eurosport - Sat, 28 Feb 13:48:00 2009
Anderson may have played himself into Manchester United's Carling Cup final squad with a reserve-team run-out against Manchester City.
Click on the link below for predicted line-ups and players to watch!
The Brazilian midfielder (pictured, left) has been an ever-present in United's run to Wembley, where they will face Tottenham on Sunday.
However, he was stretchered off late on in the second leg of the semi-final against Derby last month.
Ten days ago, Sir Alex Ferguson expressed doubts that Anderson would have recovered from his ankle injury in time to face Harry Redknapp's men.
However, Anderson managed to get through the first-half of Thursday's 2-1 win without a problem and providing he suffers no reaction, should play some part in the weekend showpiece even if it is as a substitute.
"Anderson played 45 minutes in the reserves last night and he'll travel down with us," Ferguson confirmed.
Jonny Evans and Gary Neville also travel to Wembley despite recent injuries, with Neville set to start in place of Rafael Da Silva, who was ruled out for a month with an ankle injury.
Danny Welbeck and Darron Gibson, meanwhile, are both set to start.
"Gibson and Welbeck will both play and deserve to play," Ferguson continued.
"Jonny Evans has hopefully recovered from (the 0-0 Champions League draw at Internazionale). He was feeling his injury towards the end of the game.
"Like Rafael he deserves to play in the final.
"Other than that everyone's fit. Neville's in the squad, he's been training well for about a week and will travel with us."
Ferguson will rest Edwin van der Sar for the final but is yet to decide whether Ben Foster or Tomasz Kuszczak will play instead.
"It's not an easy decision for me, it's something I'll have to mull over," Ferguson added.
Fabio Da Silva could also be involved after featuring for an hour, while Zoran Tosic completed the full 90 minutes.
Tottenham skipper Ledley King is facing an anxious wait to see if he will feature.
King, who lifted the trophy last year, has returned from a hamstring injury but his chronic knee problem means he struggles to feature twice in a week - and the centre-back played against Hull on Monday.
"It's always the case with Ledley of waiting to see how he recovers after a game - he doesn't train from Monday to Friday, comes out the day before a game and has a loosener then pitches up and plays," said Spurs boss Harry Redknapp.
Aside from Heurelho Gomes, Redknapp's first team were rested for the European clash against Shakhtar Donetsk, but there are still huge decisions for the final.
As well as the possibility of King's involvement, Redknapp has also been impressed with Jamie O'Hara's return from hip and groin problems, and he will also decide whether to play Darren Bent and Roman Pavlyuchenko together or go with a lone striker. Pavlyuchenko has scored in every round so far.
The only certainty is that Luka Modric and Aaron Lennon will be unleashed on United, with Redknapp building his attack on the pair's pace.
Redknapp has gone to Wembley in consecutive seasons but he insists it is different this year compared with winning the FA Cup with Portsmouth.
"Last year we had everything to lose, we beat United in the quarter-finals, got through to the final and you're playing Cardiff, a Championship team who everyone expected you to beat," Redknapp said.
"It would have been the biggest downer of all time if we didn't go back with the cup, even though we knew it would be difficult.
"This time everyone looks at United. Alex may change one or two but he wants to win everything. That is why he is what he is. He's not going to put out a team that he doesn't think will win."
Of his own record against Ferguson, Redknapp added: "You say a good record but no one has a winning record against Fergy."
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Comment 1 - 6 of 26
i if manu win i love you manu
no.2 u're wrong United face Newcastle away on Wednesday. So I see no need to field a first team for the Carling Cup. My selection would be Foster, Rafael, Fabio, Evans, Vidic (Captain), Anderson, Gibson, Nani, Tosic, Tevez, Welbeck. I would then put Rooney, Ronaldo and Sholes on reserve in case of eventuality. Like Rednapp's case we rather lose the League Cup and maintain our lead on the Scousers
Amazing, no scousers here poluting a Man Utd story for once - their solitude win out of several games has put a sweetener into their bitternes for a few days at least. As for United, wanna see some Roy of the Rovers stuff from Anderson, the lad deserves a goal to compliment his usually faultless performances in United's engine room. Prediction, with the current holders psyched up to do battle royale and being managed by a manager who won a cup with another club last season - it won't be easy... I can only see United winning by one goal, but a win is a win. Bring it on!!!
this is a woop @#$% moment-
Anderson will make the bench but united cannot afford to be complacent. we have long spells of time between games and so shoulf field our strongest team, with the exception of gibson, who is a very good player anyway....
2-0 to united....
1st
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