Ferguson faces FA rap over Hackett outburst

Ferguson claimed that Hackett "would never have done this for us" after Terry's dismissal at Manchester City was overturned.

The England defender had been facing a threematch ban after Halsey deemed his tackle on City striker Jo was "serious foul play".

But the FA's Independent Regulatory Commission upheld Chelsea's appeal which means Terry can play against United on Sunday and that angered Ferguson. "My information is that Hackett told Halsey to rescind the red card and he would not do it," said Ferguson. "If it had been a Manchester United player Hackett would never have done this for us."

Halsey has been removed from the list of Premier League referees for this weekend and will instead take charge of the League Two encounter between Chester and Shrewsbury.

The FA confirmed today that they are looking at the comments but will not make a decision on whether to ask Ferguson to explain his remarks further until tomorrow at the earliest.

Hackett is yet to speak, but a spokesman for the Premier League claimed he had nothing to do with the decision to rescind Terry's red card.

A spokesman said: "All matters of discipline are an issue for the FA and them alone."

It is not the first time Ferguson has directed his wrath at Hackett. After United's FA Cup exit at the hands of Portsmouth last season, he blasted referee Martin Atkinson's handling of the game and said Hackett was "not doing his job properly".

On that occasion, the FA found him not guilty of improper conduct.

It has all added spice to Sunday's clash at the Bridge, and Frank Lampard is confident that Chelsea can win, regardless of what team is put out by United. Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to play some part in United's Champions League clash against Villarreal at Old Trafford after recovering ahead of schedule from surgery on his ankle.

But Lampard, who scored his side's first goal in the 4-0 demolition of Bordeaux last night, said Chelsea are in such good form that not even Ronaldo can stop them.

"I'm not too concerned, really," Lampard said. "He's probably the best player in the world having achieved what he did last year - you can't take that away from him. But whether after a few months out they'll put him back in, I don't know. "If they do we'll have to deal with that. We're good enough to deal with United at their strongest - we shouldn't want them weak. If they are strong we still want to beat them."

Meanwhile, United insist it is 'business as usual' at Old Trafford despite the near collapse of major sponsors AIG. The US financial giant was saved by a multi-billion dollar cash injection last night.

What would have been the biggest bankruptcy America has ever known was only avoided due to the US Federal Reserve's active involvement by ploughing in £47billion. However, United, who have just embarked on the third part of a four-year deal with AIG worth a record £56.5million, remain calm about the situation.

"It is business as usual for us," said a spokesman for the Glazer family.

"Manchester United is financially strong. We have not been adversely affected by the credit crunch."