United lifted by Spurs win — Evans

DEFENDER Jonny Evans believes Manchester United can take heart from last weekend’s win at Tottenham as they build up to Sunday’s derby match at home to Manchester City.

The Premier League champions battled back after conceding an early goal and the dismissal of Paul Scholes to secure a 3–1 win at White Hart Lane.

They followed that impressive performance by beating Besiktas in the Champions League in Istanbul.

Evans believes the mood is good, even though Scholes is suspended, against a new–look City side who have won their first four league games.

He told manutd.com: “They have had a great start, but our performance at Spurs was outstanding.

“The lads did brilliantly to come back from losing an early goal and also cope with being down to 10 men when Scholesy got sent off.

“I watched from the bench and it’s one of the best performances I’ve seen from us in a long time.

“We all know about the big rivalry between United and City and it’s always nice to get the upper hand on them.

“They have put themselves up there now. It’s a long season but fair play to them because they’ve got off to a good start.”

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson could freshen his side up against City with Ryan Giggs, Dimitar Berbatov, Darren Fletcher and John O’Shea all pushing for recalls.

City face a striker crisis for the derby showdown after the FA yesterday confirmed Emmanuel Adebayor’s ban.

The Togo international admitted the charge of violent conduct brought after he stamped on Van Persie’s head.

He is therefore ruled out of City’s match at Old Trafford and will also miss home fixtures in the Carling Cup game with Fulham and West Ham in the Premier League.

The suspension leaves manager Mark Hughes likely to be without four strikers against United — because Roque Santa Cruz, Robinho and Carlos Tevez are all struggling with injuries.