Defender Rio Ferdinand is back in training with United, after sitting-out the World Cup with a knee ligament injury. The 31-year-old England skipper picked-up the injury in a freak collision with Aston Villa striker Emile Heskey in England's first training session ahead of South Africa 2010...

Ferdinand went into the World Cup with Fabio Capello naming the United center-back as captain, after the John Terry scandal. However, in England's first training session in South Africa, Rio was injured after he collided with Emile Heskey. The 31-year-old was rushed to hospital for scans, wearing a protective knee brace.

The scan revealed Ferdinand would most definitely miss the World Cup, and most likely the start of the Premier League season. The doctors were proven correct, as Rio is still out. But the 6ft 3in stopper is now back in training after his prolonged absence from Carrington.

This morning, Sir Alex spoke of his surprise with Ferdinand's timely recovery. "Rio Ferdinand’s trained this week, which is a big surprise to me. He’s made fantastic progress in the last week or so. I must admit, he hadn’t done anything, football-wise, when I spoke last week. I think when he read what I said, it maybe gave him a kick. He came in, trained this week and he’s done fantastic, really good."

"He’ll train with the Reserves today and won’t be involved tomorrow, of course, but we’ll just have to try and think when we can maybe get a game with him in the next two weeks. He’s that close. You have to be aware of knee ligament injuries, but at the moment everything’s been fine."

The boss then confirmed Wayne Rooney would be back in time for tomorrow's kick-off against West Ham at Old Trafford, and also expressed his happiness with Anderson - now back with the first team after his Car Crash in Portugal earlier this month.

"Anderson’s training with the first team, which is great," said Sir Alex. "He played a bit with the Reserves on Tuesday. That’s really good news. You’ve got to be aware that, although he’s played a part of the game on Tuesday , he’s been out for a long time and we have to monitor his progress carefully. But he’s keen - he trained on Wednesday, the day after the game, actually - which shows his enthusiasm he’s got."