Neville absent for United

Gary Neville was a surprise absentee as Manchester United looked to extend their Barclays Premiership lead to nine points with victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Alex Ferguson apparently took the decision to bring Wes Brown in for Neville due to the size of Fulham’s strikers.

The fact only half the Cottagers’ six-footers were in Chris Coleman’s starting line-up made Ferguson's logic appeared somewhat skewed.

As expected, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs were fit, while Henrik Larsson retained his striking spot alongside Wayne Rooney.

Fulham: Lastuvka, Volz, Bocanegra, Christanval, Rosenior, Radzinski, Brown, Diop, Smertin, Davies, McBride. Subs: Warner, Helguson, John, Routledge, Dempsey.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Rooney, Larsson. Subs: Kuszczak, Saha, Park, O’Shea, Silvestre.

Referee: P Walton (Northamptonshire)