Manchester United facing defensive crisis ahead of Everton clash as five first-team stars could be out

Sir Alex Ferguson is facing a major defensive crisis ahead of tomorrow's visit of Everton to Manchester United.

United will be without Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and Fabio Da Silva, while Jonny Evans and John O'Shea are major doubts following injuries on international duty.

That leaves Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Wes Brown and Rafael Da Silva as Fergie's only fit defenders ahead of the must-win game at Old Trafford tomorrow.

United currently trail Premier League leaders Chelsea by five points following their 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge a fortnight ago.

And United could find themselves eight points adrift by the time thet play Everton at tea-time tomorrow, if Chelsea win at home to Wolves.

"Hopefully we can get a back four together that can get us through this difficult game against Everton," said Fergie.

"Evans is a doubt. He came off at half-time for Northern Ireland. O'Shea also came off for Ireland against France.

"O'Shea's got a thigh problem and I don't think he'll make the Everton game. We're fighting hard to get Evans fit.

"Fortunately he came off at half-time, which has given us seven days to get him fit, but he's not trained yet so we're not sure if he'll be fit.

"On the plus side, Vidic played 70 minutes for Serbia against South Korea, so he should be available to play against Everton.

"But Gary Neville is still suspended, Ferdinand is still injured, and Fabio Da Silva suffered a groin injury in training, so we've got a wee bit of patching-up to do in defence.

"Rio's problem is back-related. It started off as a calf injury, which can quite often be back-related.

"We're not putting a timescale on it, but we're not talking months. Rio will probably be back in training in two or three weeks' time."