Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson to make changes in preparation for ‘massive games’ following defeat to Arsenal

Champions League: Schalke 04 – Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson (Getty Images)

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Sir Alex Ferguson has vowed to make changes to his Manchster United side following their 1-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates.

A second-half strike from Aaron Ramsey blew the title race wide open with United set to play Chelsea, who now only trail the leaders by three points, next Sunday.

Before then, the Old Trafford outfit host Schalke in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final and are strong favourites to progress to the final at Wembley, taking a 2-0 aggregate lead into the clash.

With this in mind, Ferguson has admitted that he is likely to make changes to his starting XI in order to freshen his squad up on what is a season-defining week for the club.

He said: “I will make some changes on Wednesday without question.

“I will bring Paul Scholes back in, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen.

“We’ll need to do that but I will probably keep my experienced players at the back.

“We have a big week ahead. Wednesday is a European semi-final second leg and then the game on Sunday.

“Two massive games, so we will regroup and freshen it up.”

Ferguson also spoke of his disappointment of the refereeing performance of Chris Foy, who failed to award the visitors a penalty late on against Arsenal after Michael Owen had gone down in the box under a challenge from Gael Clichy.

He said: “It’s too big a game not to get the decisions right.

“Clichy knew. He put his hands up in horror.

“Obviously, it gives Chelsea a major chance now. That’s what happens when you get these decisions.

“They got one at Old Trafford last season so that’s the worry now.”