Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has cooled fears Rio Ferdinand won't recover from a back injury until the New Year.

The England international will miss Saturday's game against Everton, but Ferguson believes the 31-year-old could return within a fortnight.

"It is back related," said Ferguson.

"We are not putting a timescale on it, but it is not a situation where we are saying it will be months, it might be a couple of weeks or it might be a few weeks but that is it."