Vidic set to return

Nemanja Vidic looks set to play in United's lunchtime trip to Stamford Bridge on Saturday after recovering from a stomach virus.

The Serbian defender missed the Reds' Champions League clash in Barcelona on Wednesday, but was able to train on Friday morning and is now all but certain to start against Chelsea.

"Vidic will hopefully be okay," confirmed Sir Alex. "He has trained this morning. We are hopeful he will be fit. He has a good chance. We dealt with it [the virus] right away. We got him to the hospital quickly. We hope he is going to be alright."

The United boss also confirmed he would make one or two changes to the side which earned a 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp.

"I will freshen up one or two positions. With the squad I've got, I can do that. There's nothing definite at the moment but I will make a couple of changes."

The big games just keep coming for United with the semi-final second leg against Barcelona at Old Trafford on Tuesday. But Sir Alex feels the scheduling of the last four clashes, either side of the lunchtime visit to South London, have gone against the Reds.

"The Liverpool fixture with Chelsea was Tuesday followed by Wednesday, so there is four days either way to get themselves ready, which is a big advantage, there is no question about that," stated the boss.

"Unfortunately, we have 60 hours to prepare for this game. All we can do is rest them. We stayed overnight in Barcelona. Then we had a light training session at Barcelona's training ground. Being in the sun and having a day relaxing is probably the best thing we could have done.

"Once you shake hands with the devil, there is nothing you can do about it. It is not fair but what can you do? It happened to us last year after the semi-final with AC Milan, when we had to play Manchester City on the Saturday lunchtime straight afterwards. We just get on with it."