Ferdinand Injured As United Slip Up at the Riverside

Rio Ferdinand was helped out of the Riverside last night with his injured left foot encased in a plastic surgical boot and Chelsea's title hopes seemingly being revived with his every faltering step. The Manchester United central defender and current England captain sustained the injury, which will almost certainly rule him out of Wednesday's Champions League game at home to Roma, during a thrilling 2-2 draw against Middlesbrough.

The result against opposition still not mathematically safe from relegation was an unscheduled stumble for Sir Alex Ferguson's side and cuts their lead at the top of the Premier League to three points. United's visit to Stamford Bridge on April 26 has assumed the feel of a potential title decider and it was telling that Ferguson afterwards displayed a rare touch of insecurity, reflecting: "Our goal difference is good."

His side were not expected to need to rely on goal difference to recapture the championship but the injury that has put Nemanja Vidic out for around three weeks is suddenly emphasizing just how important the Serbian center...#8209;half is to their cause. Ferguson described United's defending without him as "haphazard".

In his absence, Gareth Southgate's attack frequently ran Ferdinand, Wes Brown, John O'Shea and Patrice Evra ragged and Ferdinand's second-half injury saw Ferguson forced to send the inexperienced Gerard Piqué on in his stead after allowing the limping England defender to spend 15 minutes trying to run the problem off. Ferdinand seemed to injure himself trying to block the second of two goals from Afonso Alves, Boro's record £12m signing who had not previously scored for the club since arriving from Heerenveen of the Netherlands in January.

"Hopefully it's not too serious with Rio," said Ferguson as Ferdinand's foot was strapped and booted ahead of scans this morning. "He was limping too long though and the danger is that, if we'd left him on, things could have been worse." United sources later said Ferdinand had "no chance" of facing Roma - against whom Ferguson's side have a 2-0 first-leg lead - and is doubtful for Sunday when Arsenal visit Old Trafford.

Perhaps the impending absence of both his key center-halves partly explained why United's manager appeared bad-tempered in the second half and indulged in some finger jabbing and shouting at Southgate at the end. It appeared that Ferguson was upset with Wayne Rooney being flagged offside incorrectly when the forward was clean through and with a perceived trip on Cristiano Ronaldo by Gary O'Neil inside the penalty area. Southgate seemed aggrieved by time-wasting and a possible foul in the build-up to Rooney's equalizer, which leveled the scores at 2-2.

Ferguson may regret once publicly opining that Southgate should have not been allowed to take the Middlesbrough job but shortly after the final whistle he had turned magnanimous, declaring: "It was a fantastic game" and admitting: "We could have lost." But such honesty was, typically, laced with defiance.

Reflecting on Rooney's equalizer at the end of an afternoon that had begun smoothly with Ronaldo claiming his 37th club goal of the season, Ferguson said: "It sends out a signal to other players and our fans that we never give up. It was a fantastic game of football and both teams deserve great credit. Boro always seem to raise their game against us."

Southgate proved equally conciliatory. Laughing off their managerial spat, he explained: "We were arguing different refereeing decisions. I think it's important I don't back down in these situations but I've got complete respect for him. It was interesting to talk to him after the game and hear his views on his team."

As a former England centre-half, Southgate's views on defence are always worth listening to: "Vidic is outstanding and you are always going to miss outstanding players," he said. "We slid down the sides of them and asked them a lot of question defensively. We had them rattled and on the back foot. And we've possibly thrown the title race open, which is good for the league."

Refusing to be drawn on his favorites to finish top, he added: "The pleasing thing is the top three are all good footballing teams. United and Arsenal are probably more attractive to watch, but Chelsea are resilient."