Valencia in surprise contention for Manchester derby

09/12/2012 10:00:00 AM

The 27-year-old winger trained with the squad on Saturday along with Tom Cleverley, who was a pre-match doubt, while Nemanja Vidic missed the session as he steps up his return

By Greg Stobart

Antonio Valencia could be a surprise inclusion in Manchester United's squad for their derby clash against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The 27-year-old, who has not featured for United since their 1-0 defeat to Norwich City on November 17 due to a hip injury, trained on Saturday and could now be in line to play a part in the Premier League summit meeting.

Tom Cleverley was also billed as a doubt for the league leaders after a calf injury restricted the midfielder to playing just the opening half of United's Champions League defeat to Cluj on Wednesday, but the 23-year-old also managed to train with the squad on Saturday.

	VALENCIA THE DECISIVE FACTOR
9/2	Antonio Valencia is 9/2 with Paddy Power to score at anytime against Manchester City

One player who failed to take part in the pre-match session was Nemanja Vidic as the defender steps up his return from knee surgery. Sir Alex Ferguson had ruled the 31-year-old out on Tuesday and Sunday's fixture against the Premier League champions is likely to come too soon.

Sir Alex's men head into the derby three points ahead of Roberto Mancini's side and have taken 12 points from a possible 15 in their last six games. Meanwhile, City's exit from Europe on Wednesday has been mirrored with patchy form in the Premier League having drawn three of their last six matches.

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