During his weekly press conference today, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealed that Chris Smalling would not only be out for this Sunday's tie versus Sunderland, but also for Euro 2012 as well. The England international picked up a groin injury last weekend versus Swansea City and even though he was able to finish the match, the knock is obviously more serious than initially thought. Here is what Fergie had to say about his defender:

"Chris Smalling got a bad [groin] injury last week. We tried to take him off, then Rio got a knock. He’s going to miss the European Championship. At the moment we're assessing what we'll do, but certainly it's a bad injury. I can play Phil Jones back in there [at centre-back] with Rio, who is okay." -Ferguson | Source: ManUtd.com

As the boss mentioned, and with Jonny Evans out as well, Jones is the only other central-defender to partner Rio Ferdinand on Sunday. This likely means that Rafael features at right-back while midfielder Michael Carrick would likely be the player to provide cover for Jones and Rio at the back if injury were strike either player.

In addition to Smalling, Fergie also mentioned that Danny Welbeck will be unavailable again. This likely means that Javier Hernandez (Chicharito) will partner Wayne Rooney up front at the Stadium of Light. Nemanja Vidic, Darren Fletcher, Anderson, and Paul Pogba are out as well due to long term injuries or illness.

Fergie had this thought as well on the league's final weekend:

"Everyone wants to win their last game of the season and we're no different. It's important for us, we'll try and do our best and hopefully something stupid will happen to City." - Ferguson

Also, here are his thoughts on facing Martin O'Neill's Sunderland side: