Rooney starts for United

Wayne Rooney was included in Manchester United’s starting line-up to face Crystal Palace at Old Trafford this afternoon – with Alex Ferguson expected to watch him.

Ferguson has recovered sufficiently from his hip operation to tell David Moyes he intended to watch his first game since retirement and it is understood that he has fulfilled that promise.

There is a nice irony about Rooney’s involvement given Ferguson’s claim the England striker had demanded a transfer at the end of last season, which he vehemently denied.

It means Moyes is sufficiently sure of Rooney's recovery after he needed 10 stitches in a head wound following an accidental training-ground collision with Phil Jones prior to the defeat at Liverpool last month.

Moyes has named £27.5m new-boy Marouane Fellaini on the bench but there is still not even a place among the substitutes for Shinji Kagawa.

Adrian Mariappa was the only one of Palace’s four deadline-day signings to start, although Barry Bannan and Cameron Jerome are also on the bench.

Man Utd: De Gea, Fabio Da Silva, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Anderson, Valencia, Rooney, Young, van Persie.

Subs: Evans, Hernandez, Cleverley, Zaha, Fellaini, Amos, Januzaj.

Crystal Palace: Speroni, Mariappa, Gabbidon, Delaney, Moxey, Dikgacoi, Jedinak, Campana, Puncheon, Chamakh, Gayle.

Subs: Phillips, O’Keefe, Kebe, Alexander, Jerome, Bannan, Guedioura.

Referee: Jon Moss (W Yorkshire).