United welcome Everton to Old Trafford in the late kick off on Saturday in what, on paper, should be a fairly easy three points for Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

I mean no disrespect to Everton by this and on their day they're capable of beating anyone in the league but the fact of the matter is their injury list is huge and so many key players are missing.

Manchester United have been very good at producing youngsters, with a very long line of players such as Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher. Even more recently, other examples are Danny Welbeck, Jonny Evans and Darren Gibson. Here. we look at some of the other players who have the potential to rise from the academy reserve sides, and though some mentioned are not British like the players mentioned above, they can still become big Manchester United stars.

Written by Gareth Freeman, a sports writer promoting Irish racing and Cheltenham tips for Betfair

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The transfer rumour mill is already kicking up plenty of transfer rumours regarding United and their rivals but just how busy can we expect Sir Alex to be?

Cristiano Ronaldo is irreplaceable according to most pundits if not all of them; and the signing of Antonio Valencia in the summer wasn't to replace the talisman but was instead brought because of the quality in which he had.

Valencia only scored three goals for Wigan last year, and this time around with United, not even halfway through the season, he has scored that many.

Was Wes Brown fouled by Drogba?

Manchester United should feel hard done by. A fine display and they are right to feel aggravated. Jonny Evans and Wes Brown were terrific while Darren Fletcher was United's best player, but it wasn't to be their day, as John Terry's header deep in the second half was enough to send Chelsea five points clear.

Forget Haye v Valuev, this is the big one Chelsea v Manchester United. This year's favourites take on the Premier League champions. But while Chelsea and Drogba are in top form, United's injury problems mount.

And it is Didier Drogba who pundits alike are talking about. He is in the best form of his life, and if there was a better time to face United for the Ivory Coast forward, it would have to be now as he will be up against a rather depleted looking back line.

After eleven league games it looks as if Chelsea and Manchester United will be the two sides battling for the title through the course of the season. Liverpool look to be all but out of it already, questions still remain as to whether Arsenal can maintain their form throughout the campaign and Man City have lost ground following a run of draws.

No wonder Sir Alex Ferguson admires him so much. Igor Akinfeev may have conceded three goals though none of them was his fault but he had pulled off a number of world-class saves which had frustrated Manchester United.

He is only 23, but he has been first choice 'keeper at CSKA Moscow for six years now, and was just 17 when he broke into the Russian side making him the youngest ever.

Manchester United went into yesterday's game against CSKA Moscow needing a point which was achieved but as usual it was done the hard way and once again the problems in the defence were apparent, and it was this problem which nearly led to an embarrassing defeat.

You cannot fault United's determination when they were 3-1 down, something which paid off, but while you can give credit to the midfielders and forwards for their tenacity, the defence was again, unfortunately, the problem.

Like so often it wasn't the greatest Manchester United performance but they did deserve the three points as Blackburn had made them fight hard for it. It was the inspirational Dimitar Berbatov who had carried United, demonstrating his tricks, flicks and of course a superb piece of individual skill which broke the deadlock in the 55th minute.

By Gareth Freeman

United's Carling Cup win over Barnsley was encouraging in the fact the ‘squad' players came in and gave a decent account of themselves. Michael Owen's goal was vintage Owen, he showed neat skills and a cool composure to send the ball into the net but, with all due respect to Barnsley, he should have registered a goal against the opposition.

Though it was against lower opposition, you have to be impressed by Gabriel Obertan's performance yesterday at Oakwell. He has pace, a lot of it, and you could not question his other areas of his game such as his dribbling or his passing ability.

It was very impressive considering that he just come back from a long lay-off in the sidelines.

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Barnsley 0-1 Manchester United

29′ Home crowd starting to make some noise. Not much, but it's still noise. Bogdanovic and Macken have been superb so far. Another chance as I write. Anderson da Silva heads over.

In all honesty, Liverpool deserved their victory. And whether you decide to blame the referee is your choice, but at the end of the day the team who had far more chances and looked better when they had possession deserved to win.

The harsh reality was that United failed to create much and were lacking any real cutting edge.

The postal strikes, the controversial leader of the BNP Nick Griffin and even pesky little Beach Ball's are things that we have heard of a lot this week in the papers (though in this article, we won't mention anymore about the postal strikes or politics). The word 'beach ball' for many football fans, especially Manchester United fans, would never be thought of in the same way ever again.