Carrick included in United squad

Manchester United were without the suspended Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes at The Valley but had £18.5m signing Michael Carrick as a surprise substitute.

The former Tottenham midfielder made an earlier than expected comeback to the squad after an ankle injury and manager Sir Alex Ferguson promoted Darren Fletcher, Park Ji-Sung and Mikael Silvestre to the starting line-up with Gary Neville ruled out.