Ferguson: Luck evens out over season

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson insists that lucky breaks even themselves out over the course of a season. Ferguson accepts that United were fortunate not concede a last-minute penalty against Fulham at Old Trafford on Monday for Michael Carrick's clumsy challenge on Danny Murphy. However, he can cite plenty of other instances where his team were unlucky. "From the referee's position, I can see why he didn't give a penalty when Danny Murphy was brought down," he said. "The ball moved to the angle as Michael Carrick challenged him. From that position, it wasn't clear. Every club gets breaks here and there, you get good ones and bad ones. It evens itself out over the season, that will never change. "You could go through millions of things like that. Maybe smaller clubs feel that [decisions go against them when they play big clubs] but someone said some years ago that we get lots of penalties. It is only averaging out at three a year. "You can't say that is a lot when you are attacking teams all the time. Most managers believe the breaks even themselves out." Meanwhile, Ferguson confirmed winger Nani would again be missing when United head to Blackburn Rovers on Monday. The Portugal international has missed four games with an ankle injury and was expected to return to training early this week. "He won't be back until tomorrow and Monday will come too soon," said the United manager.