Rooney Out For Three Weeks

Wayne Rooney will miss the rest of Manchester United’s festive programme after injuring knee ligaments in training on Christmas Day.

The striker has been ruled out for between two and three weeks with the problem, which kept him out of a thrilling Boxing Day victory over Newcastle.

Rooney’s replacement Javier Hernandez scored an injury-time winner in a 4-3 success which put United seven points clear at the top of the Premier League.

And after the game Sir Alex Ferguson told MUTV the reason for Rooney’s omission from the 18-man squad.

He said:

“It was a volley towards the end of training. He did a ligament at the back of his knee and could be out for two to three weeks.”

Ferguson’s worst-case scenario would see the England international miss Premier League games against West Brom, Wigan and Liverpool and the FA Cup third round tie at West Ham.

Will United miss Rooney?
Interestingly, opta statistics from the last two seasons of Premier League football indicate that Javier Hernandez will be able to step up to the mark in Rooney’s absence.

Although he has scored under half the number of goals, his minutes per goal average is close to Rooney’s.

This is because he has only started 22 games – exactly half of the number Rooney has.