Fergie leaves Ferdinand out of Bolton game

Rio Ferdinand was a surprise absentee for Manchester United for their Barclays Premier League clash with Bolton at the Reebok Stadium.

It had been anticipated Ferdinand would keep his place from the side which beat Scunthorpe in the Carling Cup on Wednesday, but the England star was not even on the bench as Alex Ferguson reverted to the side which overcame Liverpool last Sunday.

As expected, Jussi Jaaskelainen returned from suspension for Bolton, who have lost only two home games since Owen Coyle took charge in January.

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Knight, Ricketts, Robinson, Lee, Holden, Muamba, Petrov, Elmander, Kevin Davies.

Subs: Bogdan, Taylor, Mark Davies, Klasnic, Moreno, Blake, Alonso.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, O’Shea, Vidic, Jonathan Evans, Evra, Nani, Fletcher, Scholes, Giggs, Rooney, Berbatov.

Subs: Kuszczak, Owen, Anderson, Smalling, Park, Rafael Da Silva, Macheda.

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)