Manchester United were hit hard by injury during their draw at Stoke City.

With Sir Alex Ferguson having brought Dimitar Berbatov into his first XI to replace hamstring victim Wayne Rooney, the United manager then lost Jonny Evans to injury in the warm-up and had to call in Antonio Valencia.

Javier Hernandez was the next player to be struck down, hurt early on after being tackled by Jonathan Woodgate and subsequently withdrawn and replaced by Michael Owen in the 11th minute.

Ferguson said: "It is not easy. With Hernandez he gives you that penetration and speed. That was a loss.

"Jonny got an ankle injury in training. We had a nightmare of a training session yesterday - Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney, Jonny Evans.

"Jonny thought he would be okay but in the warm-up it was no use. We had to make that change."