Defensive duo miss cup clash

United will be without defenders Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans for Sunday’s FA Cup third round clash against Manchester City. Although the Reds didn’t pick up any fresh injuries in Wednesday’s defeat at Newcastle, the defensive pairing are still nursing existing problems and will miss the fixture. Sir Alex is also likely to be without Brazilian left-back Fabio and, of course, skipper Nemanja Vidic, who is not expected to play again this season. “We don’t have any changes. Fortunately we had no injuries on Wednesday so we’ll have the same squad for Sunday,” Sir Alex said at his Friday-morning press conference. "There's no progress really to report. Chris Smalling is the one I’d love to get back but he’s got a really bad bout of tonsillitis. We expect to have him training by Monday. "Jonny Evans has still got his calf injury. But there are enough experienced players in the squad to cope with a really difficult tie on Sunday." United go into the game on the back of successive defeats and trailing Manchester City by three points in the league. Sir Alex stopped short of mentioning form books and windows but he evidently sees the chance for a change of fortune in the FA Cup. "I always say about the FA Cup, I’d take anybody in a home draw. So the advantage is with City this time in respect of the home draw. But it’s a cup tie, it’s a local derby and anything can happen in these games."