Jonny Evans hopeful of winning fitness battle and returning for Manchester United's trip to Newcastle United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who is hopeful of adding Chris Smalling to his squad for the trip to Tyneside following a ten-week foot injury lay-off, claimed that Evans had aggravated a thigh injury during the Champions League victory against CFR Cluj in Romania on Tuesday. The problem forced Evans to be substituted in the closing stages of the 2-1 win, but the Northern Ireland defender is confident that the dead leg suffered against Cluj will not prevent him from playing at the weekend. With Nemanja Vidic and Phil Jones sidelined with knee injuries that are expected to keep the pair out of action until mid-November, 21 year-old defender Scott Wootton is on stand-by to make his first Premier League start at Newcastle should Evans fail to prove his fitness. And Smalling is also close to returning to contention after making good progress with the metatarsal injury that has ruled him out since pre-season training in July.