Ferguson blames it on Rio

Alex Ferguson is looking for “fairness” when suspended Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand goes before an appeal hearing Thursday to contest his eight-month ban for missing a drugs test. Yesterday’s 4-1 Derby defeat away to Manchester City meant Ferguson’s champions are 12 points behind leaders Arsenal with just 10 games remaining. It came just days after United crashed out of the Champions League to Porto leaving their FA Cup semi-final against holders Arsenal as their last realistic route to silverware this season.

United were in the game at 2-1 when centre-back Mikael Silvestre’s careless pass let in Trevor Sinclair for City’s third. It was the latest in a series of costly errors that have happened while England international Ferdinand has been absent from the heart of the United defence since January.

Ferguson, who has described Ferdinand’s loss as a “killer for us”, said yesterday of his forthcoming hearing: “We are hoping for a far fairer assessment then we got the last time.”