• Premier League

United suffer Nani injury blow

Nani could be out for several weeks with a hamstring injury © PA Photos

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Manchester United have suffered an injury blow as Nani could be out for several weeks while Wayne Rooney faces a fitness test to see if he can face West Ham on Saturday.

The striker sat out the Premier League champions' 2-0 League Cup win over Stoke on Wednesday with a slight groin strain and will be assessed before manager David Moyes selects his side.

But winger Nani will not feature and is likely to miss the busy Christmas and New Year programme, when United face West Ham, Hull, Norwich and Tottenham in the Premier League, Swansea in the FA Cup and Sunderland in the League Cup.

Moyes said: "Nani has got a hamstring injury and we were worried about that. It's worse than we thought. He might be out for a few weeks."

The Portugal international joins Robin van Persie and Michael Carrick on the sidelines but Moyes hopes Rooney will be available. "He has a chance," the Scot said. "We will see how he is."

While the loss of Nani reduces his options, Moyes has been impressed with how his squad players have performed as United have recorded three consecutive wins in beating Shakhtar Donetsk, Aston Villa and Stoke.

He added: "The players have done really well. That is why there is such a good squad and a big squad here because throughout the season, the amount of games we have to play here, you do need those extra players.

"We have seen recently, in the last couple of games, we have been a little bit short in areas but the players who have come in have done brilliantly well. We have needed the whole squad, we really have. Even bringing Darren Fletcher back into it as well has given everybody a lift. But not only that, for Darren to get a couple of games and come back into the team is great."

United's goals in their last three games have come from Phil Jones, Danny Welbeck (2), Tom Cleverley, Ashley Young and Patrice Evra and, after a spell when United were accused of being overly reliant on Rooney and Van Persie, Moyes believes it is vital others continue to contribute

He said: "We want goals to come from everybody, we tell them we need goals from different areas. It was particularly good against Stoke in midweek."

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