But it should have Thierry Henry and Wayne Rooney so it ought to be interesting enough. Unfortunately, it's also likely to have Pascal Cygan. He tries hard enough at left back but his positioning and distribution just aren't good enough (come on Pascal, prove us wrong tonight, please!). Lauren looked so much better there, and with Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure (both of whom we might as well use before we lose them to the African Nations Cup) as right back options it has to make sense. But it seems that the Lauren option was only used because Cygan was unavailable. Tonight, as far as we know, he isn't.

Ashley Cole is expected to be back in training in a couple of weeks and availabel to play in February(good news for our Champs League hopes) but Gael Clichy is out till March.

But we will be missing Freddie Ljungberg who has a virus and more significantly at the moment (going on form) Robin van Persie (a knee injury picked up against Villa). Gilberto returns after missing the Villa game with a groin problem, which raises the possibility of playing Cesc Fabregas on the right of midfield (it's him or Robert Pires, presumably).

For United, Scholes (migraine) Smith (chest infection) & Brown (groin) are all doubts (having missed the Bolton game at the weekend) but likely to be alright. Ruud van Nistelrooy was rested for the win over Bolton but is expected to return. Solskaer is back in the squad but unlikely to start such a big game after being out of sction for so long. Heinze and Fortune are long-term absentees.