Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed that ‘never in a million years’ did he expect Mark Hughes to make the step up into management.

The Manchester United boss was at the helm of the Old Trafford outfit while the Manchester City manager was on the Red Devils’ playing staff in his days as a marauding forward.

The Welshman has gone on to carve out a successful career in the dugout with spells at the helm of his national side, Blackburn Rovers and now City.

Hughes is the envy of many Premier League managers given the vast riches at his disposal as he is charged with the task of turning the Eastlands outfit into a Premier League force.

City are targeting a top-four finish this season and will face their bitter rivals in the two-legged Carling Cup semi-finals early next year.

That will pit veteran boss Ferguson against Hughes once again, with the Scot surprised at which of his charges have made a success of coaching.

Difficult

He told Inside United: “It’s difficult to assess that because you don’t know what ambitions the players have.

“Currently we’ve got (Ryan) Giggs, (Paul) Scholes and (Gary) Neville taking their coaching badges. That’s great and I encourage them to do that because it gives them a platform if they want to stay in the game.

“It can be difficult to pinpoint who would make it as a manager.

“For instance, nobody here thought Mark Hughes would become a manager, never in a million years, and we all thought Bryan Robson was a certainty to be a top manager.”

Ferguson is still unsure as to who poses the greatest threat to United’s bid for silverware this season, with both City and Chelsea boasting vast financial resources.

He added: “It’s difficult to say with so much money coming into the game. Manchester City have millions, Chelsea have money and you can’t count out anyone.

“You don’t know where the next deluge of money’s going to come from. You just have to say, ‘Here’s another challenge.’ We won’t be afraid of it.”

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Manchester City duo Craig Bellamy and Vladimir Weiss have contracted swine flu, with several other players under observation for the virus.

Weiss was ordered to stay away from Eastlands ahead of Saturday’s Premier League victory over Chelsea after it was discovered he had been hit by the illness.

City have confirmed that Wales international Bellamy has also been suffering from the H1N1 virus, while a number of other staff members have reported flu-like symptoms and have had swabs taken.

“There is a little bit of it creeping into the camp,” City assistant boss Mark Bowen told the Manchester Evening News.

“Players come in every day with sniffles, coughs and colds and the doctor has to determine whether it is the onset of something more serious.

“It is his decision whether they have to be sent home.”

Bellamy is thought to be over the worst, although he is still doubtful for Saturday’s short trip to Bolton as he is battling to recover from a knee injury.

Bridge

One player who definitely will not be involved at the Reebok Stadium is England defender Wayne Bridge.

The former Chelsea star was carried off at the weekend following a clash with Juliano Belletti.

Manager Mark Hughes initially felt Bridge would be out of action for a couple of weeks.

However, scans have revealed the 12million full-back suffered medial ligament damage, which could sideline him for between four and six weeks.

That would mean Bridge must sit out both legs of City’s Carling Cup semi-final with Manchester United, plus the Blues’ FA Cup third-round tie at Middlesbrough.

In addition, City have eight league games to play before the end of January, although Bowen is hoping to get Bridge back slightly earlier than expected.

“It depends on his recovery but Wayne tells us he is a good healer and he is a good professional, so we are hoping it will be sooner,” he said.

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Manchester City did local rivals Manchester United a huge favour in the Premier League title race as a Carlos Tevez free-kick earned a 2-1 turnaround win over Chelsea at Eastlands.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Premier League leaders had gone in front in fortuitous circumstances through an Emmanuel Adebayor own goal, but the Togo international then scored at the correct end before Tevez sealed the victory in the second half.

Adebayor’s eighth minute mistake broke the deadlock in an engaging encounter as City failed to properly clear a generously awarded corner and their 25million striker deflected into his own net after Shay Given had parried a Nicolas Anleka drive.

But Mark Hughes’ home side had a deserved goal eight minutes before half-time as Adebayor stabbed an equaliser from close range, with Chelsea complaining about a reasonable appeal for handball against Micah Richards in the build-up.

Restoring parity shortly before the break gave City additional motivation and Tevez, formerly a United player, struck a 56th minute set-piece that proved enough to earn a first league victory in eight games.

The defeat could have been avoided had Frank Lampard not had a late penalty saved by Given, but the England international’s spot-kick failure cut Chelsea’s lead over defending champions United, who hammered West Ham earlier on Saturday, to two points.

However, that hardly told the story as bad tempered Chelsea went down in a hail of yellow cards – six in all – and skipper John Terry went off with a leg injury in the latter stages.

The two first-half goals were certainly not in keeping with a pulsating opening in which City more than matched their opponents without ever looking completely secure at the back.

Hughes’ troops had already been given one warning when Given turned away Didier Drogba’s angled drive.

Yet, when he looks at the replay, Hughes will probably conclude the main factor in Chelsea’s opener was complete bad luck.

Scramble

Drogba and Branislav Ivanovic could both have been more closely marked at the start of the scramble but the Blues survived that lapse when Given made his first save.

The ball bounced back to Anelka but Given got behind his shot too. However, the Republic of Ireland star could not legislate for the ball shooting upwards, striking Adebayor on the back and bobbling in.

As Chelsea should not have been awarded the corner which started the whole melee off in the first place, City could have been forgiven for believing it was not to be their day.

Far from it. They poured forward and if their delivery from set-pieces had been less persistent in picking out Petr Cech, the equaliser might have come long before it did.

Cech’s only mistake had been to come for a Shaun Wright-Phillips’ cross and get nowhere near as Richards rose. Ricardo Carvalho read the situation perfectly though and made a splendidly acrobatic clearance.

City kept up their offensive and when Wright-Phillips drove another shot into the Chelsea box it ultimately brought their equaliser.

Terry, who was linked so heavily with a move to Eastlands last summer, was still complaining to referee Howard Webb at half-time that Richards handled Wright-Phillips’ shot.

It was difficult to see what the England Under 21 full-back could have done to get out of the way though.

The ball deflected into Adebayor’s path and did so again when it bounced back off the England skipper. At the second time of asking Adebayor did not fail to make up for his earlier misfortune.

If Drogba’s free-kick in the final minute of the half had been one inch inside Given’s left-hand post rather than just outside it, City might have had problems responding.

Bad temper

As it was, they were the ones with the impetus when the sides returned and got their noses in front.

In keeping with the others, there was an element of controversy about the goal.

Ricardo Carvalho did have a point when he claimed he had been looking at the ball as he went for an aerial challenge with Tevez, but he also kept a leg in the air long enough to plant it into the Argentinean’s back.

Tevez added insult to the resulting yellow card though, curling a crisp free-kick into the bottom corner, with Terry berating Cech for allowing the ball to pass on his side.

The loss of Richards and Wayne Bridge to injury hardly assisted City in their efforts to cling on for a win, but Juliano Belletti’s studs-first challenge that led to Bridge being carried off could easily have left Chelsea with 10 men.

That bad-tempered tackle led to a few more. At one point Ashley Cole and Deco were booked for offences in the same passage of play.

Prior to that though, Given had emerged the hero when he turned away an admittedly poor Lampard penalty after Onuoha had upended Drogba.

There was still time for Terry to limp off and Drogba to waste a glorious chance to level at the death although City, and Given, deserved their success.