Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed that the media are desperate to see Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea fail at Old Trafford.

The Spaniard, who made a handful of errors in his first appearances of the season, was rotated with second-choice keeper Anders Lindegaard in midweek. However, Ferguson insists that he will be re-awarded the starting job against Chelsea in their top-of-the-table clash this weekend, despite the Dane's strong performance.

"There is an agenda from the media on de Gea," Ferguson is quoted as saying in The Mirror. "We experienced that again on Wednesday night. For some reason they seem to be desperate for the boy to fail. I don't understand it.

"He'll be back in the team. That was always the arrangement. He didn't have to deal with stories about being left out because he knew he was playing. Waking up to that wouldn't have been a problem.

"He doesn't speak English, he's looking for a house, he's learning to drive here, he doesn't know the culture and he's 20 years of age. There's a lot he's had to deal with. But he's shown great composure about the whole thing."

De Gea joined the Red Devils from Atletico Madrid in June for a reported fee of £18m.