Hernandez and Welbeck available

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has no intention of joining the army of critics who have followed the Stoke bandwagon since it arrived in the Premier League four seasons ago.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was particularly aggrieved when young midfielder Aaron Ramsey had his leg broken in a meeting with the Potteries outfit.

Chelsea and Liverpool have also had their struggles, as have Manchester City. Indeed, the former two have already dropped points against Tony Pulis' men this season.

That form is in marked contrast to United, who have secured six straight wins since Stoke came back into the top flight.

Little wonder Ferguson is not fazed by Stoke's unique threat, not that he feels there is a problem with it anyway.

"I've never criticised it (Stoke's style of play). It's never been a problem for us.

"Everyone plays to their strengths. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

"You see the progress the team is making. They have signed two or three players, they are playing European football and having a right go.

"They have a great attitude and their support is brilliant.

"I love the atmosphere there. If you don't attend to that you just get engulfed."

It promises to be the biggest test of United's 100% start to the season so far and rookie goalkeeper David De Gea can expect a searching examination of his ability under the high ball, which has not always looked to be completely secure.

Ferguson will have to get his team selection right and to that end, he is pleased to have Javier Hernandez available quite so quickly.

The Mexican scored both United goals in the corresponding fixture last term but his hopes of being involved this weekend appeared slim when he limped out of Sunday's win over Chelsea following Ashley Cole's wild challenge.

Thankfully, the damage has not proved to be too serious and Hernandez is in contention to partner Wayne Rooney.

"Hernandez is very lucky," Ferguson said.

"At the time he had no feeling in the leg. There was numbness and we thought there might have been some nerve damage.

"But he trained very well yesterday and is available."

With Danny Welbeck returning from a hamstring injury in Tuesday's win at Leeds, Ferguson's striking options are well stocked once more.

Little wonder Michael Owen reacted with such caution in midweek when asked whether his brace at Elland Road would lead to a further outing at Stoke.

As Owen himself said, he scored a hat-trick against Wolfsburg two years ago and still did not start the game afterwards.

Ferguson acknowledges that with so many choices in an attack, and Wayne Rooney always likely to feature for the biggest games when fit, Owen tends to get squeezed out.

"We are perfectly happy with Michael," said Ferguson.

"He is in one of these unfortunate positions because the form of Rooney and Hernandez has been fantastic.

"It's the same situation for (Dimitar) Berbatov. He was top goalscorer up to Christmas but Hernandez then started performing the way he did.

"There is nothing you can do about that.

"We are delighted with Michael's contributions. In 12 starts that was his 11th goal - the other night he was absolutely first class.

"There's no doubt in anyone's mind what a great finisher he is. He's always had that instinct round about the goalmouth."

Nemanja Vidic is no nearer a recovery from the calf injury sustained in the opening-day win at West Brom and with Chris Smalling doubtful with a groin strain, Ferguson is glad to have Rio Ferdinand's presence.

Ferdinand has missed three games after suffering a calf strain at Bolton, after sitting out two matches following a tweaked hamstring sustained at West Brom.

Clearly, it is not the greatest fitness record.

However, Ferguson still views the 32-year-old as an essential component of his squad.

"Rio's experience away from home in a game like this is always important," said the United boss. If he is back we are well covered."

Stoke manager Pulis believes the Manchester United side that will visit
the Britannia Stadium is the best team in world football.

Ferguson guided his side to a record 19th top-flight title last season
but many pundits felt it was not one of the better line-ups the Scot had
overseen.

However, there has been no such criticism this season with United flying out of
the traps, winning five straight Barclays Premier League games, including last
weekend's 3-1 victory over Chelsea and their 8-2 mauling of Arsenal in August.

The addition of the likes of Ashley Young, Phil Jones and David De Gea this
summer, as well as the return from loan spells of Tom Cleverley and Danny
Welbeck, has given United a more youthful, energetic look.

And Pulis believes, if they were to face Champions League winners Barcelona
now, it would be a very different outcome to the 3-1 victory the Catalans
achieved at Wembley in May.

"If you look at their team and the way they've started, I think United now
have a better team than they had last year, and they won the Barclays Premier
League title last year,'' said the Potters boss.

"It's going to be a tough test. We have to play to our maximum, we have to
have things go for us, and United have to be a little bit short on the day.

"If they play to their maximum, they will beat any side in the world, and I
put Barcelona in that because they have been pretty outstanding.''

Wayne Rooney - yet to score against Stoke - has been the main man as far as
goals are concerned for United, netting nine times already, but it is Mexican
Javier Hernandez that has caught Pulis' eye.

He said: "I think Hernandez is the next Denis Law. His movement in the box,
his anticipation, is fantastic. He's quick, he's got everything great
goalscorers need and he's certainly deadly in front of goal.

"And Ashley Young, what a great signing that's turned out to be. Then you've
got Rooney playing the best football he's played for years, Nani scoring goals
from everywhere. They've got goalscorers and they will be a major force
again.''

Stoke have also had a good start to the season but their unbeaten run came to a
juddering halt at Sunderland last weekend when they slumped to a 4-0 loss.

Although Pulis refused to blame their hectic schedule, tomorrow's match will be
a fourth in 10 days while another three-game week will see Besiktas visit the
Britannia Stadium in the Europa League next Thursday.

"It's something that we're learning,'' added Pulis.

"We won't know how it will affect us until we get through the period. It's
different, we've had to change the training routine a little bit and we'll
continue to do that.

"It is suck it and see at the moment. There's nothing prepared because we've
never done this before.

"We're enjoying it. For the first time in a long, long time we're actually
experiencing European football. It's something we should cherish, not something
we should make excuses for. The next two games will be great games to be
involved in.''

Although Pulis is hopeful a number of players will shake off niggles, he will
definitely be without striker Kenwyne Jones.

The Trinidad and Tobago international limped off during the Carling Cup victory
over Tottenham on Tuesday with a hamstring injury and, although the problem is
not as bad as first feared, he is expected to be out until after next month's
international break.

Pulis said: "That is a big disappointment for us because Kenwyne had started
the season really well. And, although we brought Peter (Crouch) in, we were
hoping he'd put the pressure on Kenwyne to get the best out of Kenwyne.''