Owen Hargreaves hopes for an injury-free season after shaking off the fitness woes which have dogged the start of his Manchester United career.

The 26-year-old midfielder has played only three times for the Red Devils since completing his £18million summer switch from Bayern Munich.

Hargreaves missed virtually all United's pre-season programme with tendinitis in his knee before suffering a groin strain on England duty earlier this month which has proved frustratingly slow to heal.

"Injuries are part of football but this has been disappointing because I have never really suffered any muscle problems before," said Hargreaves.

"The latest one has taken longer than I expected. I did it on the Wednesday and initially thought I would be able to play (for England) against Israel the following weekend.

"But I was a mile off then and still nowhere near for the Russia match on the Wednesday afterwards.

"Maybe we just didn't get the timescale right. Muscle injuries generally take three weeks and that is exactly the time frame I am in at the moment.

"It is great to be back training again but I have only been involved once, so Roma is probably more likely for my comeback than Birmingham.

"But the main thing is that I am fit. Hopefully I will stay that way for the rest of the season."