Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that defender Jonny Evans will not be part of the Manchester United squad for the match against Swansea on Sunday.

This is a key match for Manchester United knowing that they must win in order to stay in touch with Manchester City at the top of the table, and possibly overtake their arch rivals if they slip up against Newcastle earlier in the day. However, they will have to be without Jonny Evans for the match against Swansea. Sir Alex Ferguson will also be hoping to score a lot of goals against Swansea, which might also help Manchester United’s attempts to overtake City at the top of the table.

Ferguson revealed during the week that United should not have been in such a position given their lead over City only a month ago. United had an eight point advantage over City after their arch rivals lost at the hands of Arsenal. However, since then United have been beaten by Wigan and Manchester City, while they have also surrendered a two-goal advantage at the hands of Everton at home. It has meant that City will go into the two remaining Premier league games against Newcastle and QPR knowing that they can win the title if they better Manchester United’s results.

“He has improved a little bit but (will) not (be fit) for Sunday. He is out. He got injured on Monday. Hopefully he will be ready for the Sunderland game. We have to get over the disappointment of Monday. It was a blow to us. It has put us on the back foot. We can only do what we can do,” said Sir Alex Ferguson regarding the fitness of both Jonny Evans and Danny Welbeck. Danny Welbeck was injured after a challenge from Nigel de Jong in the Manchester derby.

Jonny Evans has said that Manchester United’s young players need to focus a lot more and improve on various positions in order to be more competitive in the future.

This statement comes after the 2-1 loss at the hands of Crystal Palace in the Carling cup quarter-finals. Apart from bringing an end to the cup run, the defeat also raises questions about the quality of the young players present at Manchester United. Even though the likes of Tom Cleverley and Darron Gibson have traversed from the youth ranks only recently, there has been a lack of players from youth team who are on the same level of David Beckham and Gary Neville.

Paul Scholes is another player who is well known amongst the Old Trafford faithful for having come through the ranks, but it is quite sad to see Manchester United not producing the likes of Paul Scholes and Gary Neville nowadays. Jonny Evans was quick to point out this fact, but said that they still had a lot of quality and they can become a great player in the future. Manchester United lost to Crystal Palace with a side that contained the likes of Ravel Morrison, Ben Amos, Paul Pogba, and Ezekiel Fryers.

‘It’s good that the manager plays the younger lads, but unfortunately we’ve not managed to get the result. My first game was in the Carling Cup and it didn’t turn out as well as we expected, but the lads have got to keep focused and work hard on their games,’ Jonny Evans said after the game. Jonny Evans made his debut in 2007 against Coventry, but has gone on to become one of the established players at Manchester United. He is the first choice replacement for either Rio Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic in case of an injury.