Hargreaves in United debut

Owen Hargreaves was handed his Manchester United debut as Alex Ferguson’s men looked to record their first win of the season against local rivals Manchester City at Eastlands.

Hargreaves was expected to miss the game with a long-running knee problem but with Cristiano Ronaldo suspended and Darren Fletcher not even making the bench, Ferguson entrusted his £18m summer capture from Bayern Munich with midfield duties for the visitors.

In his first league meeting against Ferguson as a manager, City chief Sven-Goran Eriksson made two changes, axing striker Rolando Bianchi in favour of Valeri Bojinov, while Geovanni was given his first start at the expense of Stephen Ireland as the hosts looked to preserve their 100% start to the campaign.

Man City: Schmeichel, Garrido, Richards, Dunne, Corluka, Geovanni, Hamann, Johnson, Petrov, Bojinov, Elano. Subs: Hart, Ball, Onuoha, Mpenza, Bianchi.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Hargreaves, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Nani, Tevez. Subs: Kuszczak, O’Shea, Silvestre, Eagles, Campbell.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Co Durham)