Man Utd v Bolton preview

16 October 2009 10:43
Manchester United face a striking dilemma going into their clash with Bolton at Old Trafford on Saturday. The champions' top scorer Wayne Rooney will miss out due to the calf strain he picked up on England duty while Sir Alex Ferguson also has problems with Dimitar Berbatov. The 28-year-old is still in Bulgaria following the birth of his daughter and may not arrive back in Manchester in time for the game. Better news for United is the fact that Ferguson has fit-again Michael Owen available for selection after he recovered from a groin problem he picked up just over two weeks ago. However, despite the notable absentees, all eyes will be on referee Mark Clattenburg following Ferguson's comments about fellow official Alan Wiley after United's 2-2 draw with Sunderland last time out. A poor performance from the Red Devils was masked by the Scot's claims that Wiley had struggled to keep up with the pace of the game before declaring that Premier League referees were not fit enough to officiate at the top level. Ferguson was forced to apologise twice for the comments that caused uproar during the international break. Interestingly Clattenburg was in charge the last time the Trotters managed to beat United when they triumphed 1-0 at the Reebok in November 2007. Since then however Bolton have failed to score against United let alone pick up a single point in their last three head-to-heads. But manager Gary Megson believes things could have been very different the last time he brought his team to the Theatre of Dreams had referee Rob Styles not awarded United a dubious penalty on the hour mark with the scores at 0-0. Megson has had his doubters at the Reebok ever since taking over in October 2007 but a positive result on Saturday could keep his critics at bay for a little while longer and put distance between Bolton and the bottom three. Meanwhile United will want to bounce back from their disappointing display against Sunderland, where they needed a last-minute own goal to grab a point. Man Utd newsWith Rooney absent and Berbatov a doubt, Owen should definitely start but it remains to be seen whether Ferguson will partner the former Liverpool striker with Danny Welbeck or Federico Macheda, who has, surprisingly, hardly featured this term. Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar will start in place of Ben Foster having sufficiently recovered from a hand injury that has kept him sidelined since pre-season. Gabriel Obertan (spine) and Rafael (shoulder) both played 45 minutes for the reserves on Monday having recovered from their respective knocks and both could find themselves on the bench on Saturday. Darren Fletcher is a worry for Ferguson having picked up a slight problem while with Scotland during their trip to Japan Also back in training is Owen Hargreaves (knees) following his year-long absence but the game has come too soon for the midfielder. Defender Jonny Evans should recover from the ankle knock he picked up on international duty for Northern Ireland to sit on the bench at the weekend. Bolton newsDefender Sam Ricketts could return from a foot injury just in time to feature while midfielder Joey O'Brien is expected to miss out with a knee problem. Johan Elmander should feature despite being withdrawn for Sweden against Albania on Wednesday in the first half, however it has since been revealed that the change was just a precaution. The only other concern for Megson is the long-term absence of midfielder Sean Davis who has been ruled out for the season with a knee injury. Possible starting XIs: Man Utd: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Anderson, Carrick, Valencia, Owen, Berbatov. Bolton:Jaaskelainen, Knight, Cahill, Samuel, Ricketts, Gardner, Cohen, Muamba, Taylor, Lee, Kevin Davies.

Source: SKY_Sports