Ferguson hands chance to van Nistelrooy

Alex Ferguson gave Ruud van Nistelrooy a chance to redeem himself at Old Trafford this afternoon when Manchester United continued their pursuit of Barclays Premiership leaders Chelsea.

Ferguson had still not calmed down after watching his team convert just one of their 23 chances against Fulham a fortnight ago, with the spotlight falling squarely on van Nistelrooy, who has struggled for form since his return from an Achilles injury.

The United boss did opt to leave Roy Keane on the bench, while Gabriel Heinze was not even in the squad after only returning from World Cup duty with Argentina late yesterday afternoon.

Arriving at Old Trafford as a club boss for the first time, Mark Hughes made just one change to the Blackburn side beaten by Arsenal two weeks ago, bringing in Jonathan Stead for Paul Dickov, who was ruled out with a groin injury.

Man Utd: Howard, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, O’Shea, Ronaldo, Scholes, Fortune, Giggs, Rooney, van Nistelrooy. Subs: Phil Neville, Brown, Carroll, Smith, Keane.

Blackburn: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Matteo, Reid, Thompson, Mokoena, Flitcroft, Pedersen, Stead. Subs: Amoruso, Emerton, Tugay, Enckelman, Gallagher.

Referee: M Riley (W Yorkshire)