Man.United, City focus on Premier League

Cross-town rivals Manchester City and Manchester United will try to return to winning ways in the Premier League following their shattering group stage exits from the Champions League. Table-toppers City lead reigning English champions United by five points.But United, at home to lowly Wolves on Saturday, can cut that gap to just two points with victory at Old Trafford ahead of City’s trip to Chelsea on Monday.While City had the consolation of beating Bayern Munich in their final Champions League match, United’s defeat by unheralded Basel will have set alarm bells ringing for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.Ferguson confirmed on Friday that Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.Ferguson had been desperately hoping Vidic would be back in only a few weeks.But Vidic underwent scans on his right knee on Thursday and Ferguson revealed the 30-year-old’s injury is serious enough to keep him out for the remainder of the campaign. “Nemanja is out for the season. It is bad news. He will be a loss,” Ferguson said on Friday.“I thought it was a bad one when I saw it. Vidic’s absence is a significant setback to United’s hopes of retaining the Premier League title.Meanwhile, Arsenal, who this weekend celebrate their 125th birthday, will look to make it eight successive Premier League games unbeaten when they face Everton at the Emirates Stadium.Gunners boss Arsene Wenger again praised striker Robin van Persie who has scored 13 times in his last 10 appearances.The Dutch forward has suffered a number of fitness problems since his arrival from Feyenoord seven years ago, but he has been injury-free this season and has led by example. “When you see the player that arrived and the player he is today then you have to give him a lot of credit. His transformation has been exceptional,” said Wenger, whose fifth-placed side are still 10 points behind Manchester City.