Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson expects defenders Jonny Evans, Nemanja Vidic and Wes Brown to soon return from injury.

Ferguson has Brazilian defenders Fabio and Rafael da Silva available for Sunday's visit to Hull as his defensive crisis begins to ease.

He said: "Johnny Evans started training yesterday. He didn't do an awful lot as he's still feeling pain and we're trying to get him through that. I think by the Leeds United game (on January 3) we could have three centre backs fit."