Cleverley poised to make return for Liverpool

Cleverley was put on stand-by on Wednesday to feature for United’s reserves against City’s Elite Development squad in a Manchester Senior Cup fixture, which starts at 1pm at United’s Carrington training ground.The midfielder, who has been out of action since damaging his ankle in October, will be closely watched by Sir Alex Ferguson, who is planning on naming Cleverley as one of his substitutes for the Liverpool clash if he feels no ill effects from the run-out.The match was originally due to take place in Altrincham tonight but was switched to Carrington because the Moss Lane ground is currently unplayable because of heavy frost.The England Under-21 international was pencilled in to play for the reserves against Chelsea on Monday, only for the game to be postponed due to bad weather.Sir Alex is eager to get Cleverley back for the final three-and-a-half months of the campaign. The 22-year-old established himself in the first team in the opening weeks of the season, when he made seven impressive appearances, but has not featured since United’s 1-0 win at Everton on October 29.