United duo set to miss Wembley showdown

FA Cup / Editor / 11 May 2007 / Leave a Comment

Manchester United's Louis Saha has been ruled out of next weekend's FA Cup final against Chelsea with a knee injury, while Gary Neville is a major doubt.

Striker Saha has been badly hampered by injury problems this season and his absence for the final could lead to a start for either Alan Smith or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Meanwhile, United skipper Neville looks like losing his fitness race to feature in the first Cup final at the new Wembley.

The England international has not played since damaging his ankle in the 4-1 Premiership win over Bolton at Old Trafford on March 17.

Neville is back in training but has not yet kicked a ball as part of his rehabilitation and manager Sir Alex Ferguson admitted time is not on Neville's side.

The United boss said: "Gary has been doing some light running this week, and did a bit more aggressive work this morning.

"Obviously he's up against it for the final but we're going to give him a chance because he deserves to be fit.

"He'll have to do some serious work with the football next week as we've not introduced that part yet. Whether it will be soon enough, I have my doubts - unfortunately."

Betfair punters are struggling to separate the rivals in the winner market, with both United and Chelsea trading at 1.99.

Jose Mourinho's men are slight favourites to win in 90 minutes at 2.82, with United available at 2.9 and the draw can be backed at 3.2.