Problems mount for Manchester duo ahead of showdown

Already without Gareth Barry through suspension, with Mario Balotelli deemed “unlikely” to recover from an ankle injury sustained in training last week and Samir Nasri trying to shake off an illness, Mancini always knew his resources would be depleted.

So he could have done without the double loss of Yaya and Kolo Toure after his plea to keep the pair until after the United game was rejected by Ivory Coast coach Francois Zahoui.

So, instead of facing the Premier League champions, the Toures will be flying from Paris, where they are required for a team meeting tomorrow, to Abu Dhabi for a two-week training camp ahead of the tournament, jointly held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Evidently, Mancini has no faith in some of the back-up players outside his senior squad because he is contemplating the possibility of naming only six substitutes.

“For Sunday we have 17 players,” he said. “I don’t think we will have 18. Gareth is suspended, Mario is injured. Samir was better yesterday but I don’t know.”

The strange case of Owen Hargreaves offers little cause for optimism either as two starts in the Carling Cup and a substitute appearance in the Premier League win over Aston Villa have not given way to a more consistent presence in the City squad.

“Owen has worked with the team in the last two weeks without a problem,” said Mancini.

“But it is clear that he is not Yaya at this moment. He needs to play and work. I hope he can be ready to play one game but it depends on him.”

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson also has some head scratching to do as his side aim to avoid losing three successive games for the first time in almost 11 years.

United have not suffered three defeats in a row since the last three games of the 2000-01 campaign, when the Premier League title had already been won.

But that is the fate which awaits them on Sunday if Ferguson cannot cajole a better performance out of his injury-hit team than they produced at Newcastle.

The obvious problem for Ferguson is the strength of the opposition and his own lack of options.

Only in attack do United have choices to make.

Six goals in three games demanded Dimitar Berbatov be picked on Tyneside, but his lacklustre contribution there makes an equally forceful case for the Bulgarian’s omission.

Ferguson cited a crucial first-half miss by Wayne Rooney as the turning point against Newcastle and the striker, fresh from being disciplined over an ill-advised Boxing Day night out, was substituted after 74 minutes.

However, Rooney will surely keep his place alongside either Danny Welbeck, who has one goal since October, or Javier Hernandez, who has not scored since November, or both.