Bench at best for Silvestre

Mikael Silvestre will be on the bench at best for Manchester United against Aston Villa at Villa Park tomorrow.

The French defender missed the midweek win over Wigan with a groin strain and although he has made a partial recovery United boss Sir Alex Ferguson does not believe he is ready to return to his starting line-up.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will not be considered either despite coming through another 77 minutes of reserve team action against Bolton last night.

Provisional squad: Van der Sar, Howard, Neville, Bardsley, Ferdinand, Brown, O’Shea, Richardson, Ronaldo, Park, Fletcher, Scholes, Smith, Giggs, Rooney, Van Nistelrooy, Saha.