Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Tom Cleverley will be out of action until Christmas with an ankle injury.

The 22-year-old midfielder was taken off during United's game with Everton last month over the problem, which was initially described as "not serious".

"It's worse than we thought," Ferguson told reporters today. "When he came off against Everton he reported that it was just a bit of tightness, a bit of pain, but we've done further scans and he's had a recurrence of the injury, so we're going to have to give him a break until Christmas time, I think."

Ferguson also revealed that Michael Owen will be out until Christmas with a thigh injury.