Rooney left out of United team

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson left Wayne Rooney out of his first XI and made five changes for the Barclays Premiership clash with Birmingham at St Andrews.

The England striker was on the substitutes’ bench after playing two World Cup qualifiers in the space of four days against Wales and Azerbaijan.

Rooney, Mikael Silvestre, Gabriel Heinze, John O’Shea and Ryan Giggs were absent from the side which drew at home to Middlesbrough a fortnight ago.

Into the United starting line-up came Louis Saha, Alan Smith, Kleberson, Wes Brown and Quinton Fortune.

Birmingham manager Steve Bruce brought former United striker Dwight Yorke into the side alongside Emile Heskey with Clinton Morrison (knee) having joined Mikael Forssell on the injury list.

Julian Gray earned a recall at left-back in place of Jamie Clapham as Blues looked for only their second league win of the campaign.