Advocaat leaves it open for Johnson, and Sherwood is confident Villa will stay up

Rafael out for the season, says Manchester United's Louis van Gaal.

Manchester United's Rafael. Reuters

Sunderland

The coach Dick Advocaat will leave it to Adam Johnson to decide if he is mentally ready to play a part in Saturday’s Premier League clash with Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium. Johnson is available for selection after the club decided not to re-impose the suspension to which he was subject following his arrest last month despite police charging him on Thursday with three offences of sexual activity with a child under 16 and one of grooming. But Advocaat will make a decision on whether to involve the 27-year-old England international after discussing the situation with him to ascertain his state of mind. Asked if the midfielder was available for the game, the Dutchman said: “He’s in the squad, yes, tomorrow. If he’s in the squad, then I will consider him for selection, otherwise he would not be in the squad. He still has to come in, but in principle if he feels okay, then he will be a member of the squad.”

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Aston Villa

Tim Sherwood has said Villa are prepared for their final survival fight as he backed his side to stay up. Villa go to Manchester City on Saturday, four points above the bottom three. Manager Sherwood replaced Paul Lambert in February when Villa were in the Premier League relegation zone but he said he believes they have enough to survive with five games left. He said: “There’s enough games out there to be able to achieve it. We are very confident that we are going to stay in the Premier League, but you just never know. If you take your foot off the pedal, this game shocks you. There are other teams fighting for their lives as well. It’s important in the bad times that they stick together as well and I think we’ve done that. It’s not all been plain sailing. We’ve taken some knocks, but we’ve managed to brush it aside and bounce back in the following games, so there’s enough character in there and enough ability in there to stay in the division.”

Manchester United

The right-back Rafael will miss the rest of the season with a rib injury, manager Louis van Gaal has said. Rafael came off during an Under-21 game against Leicester City on Monday after an aerial collision with Anthony Knockaert. And Van Gaal told MUTV that the player will miss the final five games of the campaign. Van Gaal said of the setback: “It’s unbelievable. He has broken his ribs so he shall not play any more this season for Manchester United. It’s very unfortunate.” The Brazilian has not started a Premier League game for the club since October. Of more concern to the United coach is the long list of other players who are out through injury. Phil Jones (ankle), Michael Carrick (calf) and Marcos Rojo (adductor) all missed last weekend’s defeat to Chelsea and are not fit to feature at Everton. The only man who could return is midfielder Daley Blind, who missed the 1-0 loss at Stamford Bridge due to an ankle problem. “Only Blind maybe can reach the game against Everton but Jones, Carrick and Rojo cannot play,” the Dutchman said.

* Agencies