Barthez will miss Fulham clash

13 April 2012

Fabien Barthez has been forced out of Manchester United's FA Cup third round match at Fulham on Sunday with flu.

Raimond van der Gouw will deputise for the French international goalkeeper at Craven Cottage.

Sir Alex Ferguson still has to decide whether to recall fit-again leading scorer Teddy Sheringham.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or Dwight Yorke would have to make way to accommodate Sheringham's return.

Sheringham, who has missed United's last five games with hamstring trouble, scored in last night's 4-4 friendly with Wrexham, and as planned, was substituted just after the hour.

United first-team coach Jimmy Ryan, who was in charge at the Racecourse Ground in the absence of manager Ferguson and coach Steve McClaren, said: "I think Fulham could be a possibility for Teddy. We will wait and see if there is a reaction, but I can't imagine that there will be.

"It was nice for Teddy to get a goal - it's his season for scoring goals."

Defender Jaap Stam and striker Andy Cole also made their comebacks following their Achilles operations, while keeper Mark Bosnich made his return from a hernia operation.

Stam and Cole each played half a game and Ryan added: "It all went according to plan.

"We had thought 45 minutes for Stam and Coley and an hour for Teddy and it was absolutely perfect."

Paul Scholes is a doubtful starter after limping out of the 3-1 New Year's Day win over West Ham, but Denis Irwin returns from an ankle injury and Luke Chadwick has served his one-match ban.

The problems of Fulham manager Jean Tigana seem a little more serious as he heads into the match without five key players.

Sean Davis is suspended, John Collins is still recovering from a hamstring problem, Lee Clark is set to be ruled out with an Achilles injury and Barry Hayles is doubtful after taking a knock on his ankle in the 2-0 New Year's Day defeat at Stockport.

In addition, captain Chris Coleman may be out for the rest of the season following his car crash on Tuesday night.

Defender Steve Finnan said: "The boys that are out have done really well for us this season and they will be missed.

"But we have a good quality squad and there are players who can step in against United without it making much difference to the team."

Tigana is, however, considering a bid for Newcastle's Alain Goma or Lorenzo Amoruso of Scottish club Rangers as he wants to have better cover in defensive positions after losing Coleman.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in