Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Darren Fletcher is ready to make a return to senior duties and will be considered for Sunday’s squad to face Arsenal. The Scottish midfielder emerged unscathed from Thursday evening’s Reserves victory over Swansea and the manager told his pre match press conference that Fletcher is ready for his first senior outing of the season.

Ferguson also leapt to the defence of the Gunners embattled manager Arsene Wenger “The work he has done in the 15 years he has been at the club is the best in Arsenal’s history” he pointed out “Yes, he has not won a trophy for six years but what does that mean? The quality of his side has not been reduced so it’s a bit unfair” He then slammed the critics by saying “but who understands fairness and unfairness these days? Supporters are far less easy to please than they were 20 years ago”

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Sir Alex Ferguson will be delighted after Manchester United were handed a relatively easy task for the group stages of the Champions League. The Premier League champions were pitted against Portuguese side Benfica, Swiss outfit Basel and Romanian newcomers Otelul Galati. Club chief executive David Gill believes that “Sir Alex will be happy with that. We’ve had great success in the last few years in the competition and we’re looking forward to it”  Gill said after the draw in Monaco.

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The European Champions League draw will take place in Monaco within the next 24 hours. UEFA’s rules will see the 32 qualified teams allocated into eight groups of four. Each will contain a top seed, plus one club from the second, third and fourth pots. These are determined by a UEFA ranking system which makes it virtually impossible to work out who exactly Manchester United will be drawn against BUT there are a number of clubs who will definitely be avoided.

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Welcome to the sixth episode of the “Red Dead Podcast”, the preeminent Manchester United podcast for Truly Reds, brought to you as always by Tom “Darren Fletcher” Addison and Liam “Wrestlemania” Brown.

This week we’re taking a look at United’s performances against West Brom and Man City in recent weeks and the hysteria surrounding two mistakes made by new boy De Gea in both of those games, as well as assessing City’s chances in the league this season (thanks to their latest signing) and also those of Arsenal (thanks to their latest departure).

We’ll also be discussing the rumours regarding a potential share issue by United on the Singapore stock market, but most importantly we’ll be delving into the issue of why United fans seem to use the same song for so many players (with Ashley Young being the latest victim)

Comments, feedback and questions are greatly appreciated, you can contact us on reddeadpodcast@hotmail.co.uk (no spam please, neither of us have a desire to get “ripped” in six weeks, nor meet local slags in our area)

Remember, you can also follow us, and Truly Reds, on Twitter: @TrulyReds @TomRDPodcast and @LiamRDPodcast

Join us again soon, where we’ll hopefully be discussing a United home win against Tottenham, and anything else that tickles our fancy.

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Months of frustrating uncertainty may finally be coming to an end for Darren Fletcher as he got one step closer to a first team return with a strong 90 minute display in the reserves at Arsenal on Monday night. A Manchester United second string side went down 2-1 to the Gunners but more importantly for Fletcher, he came through the entire match unscathed and looking more like his usual self.

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There can be little argument that the the title race in the new season will be fought between no more than six clubs. The same old suspects if you like, but with a slight difference. Liverpool does not look ready to win its first title since 1990. Even their ambitious American owner John Henry is targeting a Champions League qualifying place at the very best. Tottenham appear to have gone slightly backwards and cannot be seriously regarded as Premier League winners while Arsenal are having all sorts of problems off the field. That leaves Chelsea under a new manager who can only be described as an inexperienced and of course the big spending noisy neighbors, as the major threats to Manchester United.

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