Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United will be keen to return to winning ways when they take on Tony Pulis’ Stoke City in the Premiership at Old Trafford on Saturday.

The Red Devils, who are fourth in the table, were beaten by Arsenal in their last league game and only managed to scrape past QPR in midweek Carling Cup fourth round clash with Carlos Tevez scoring from a penalty kick.

The Argentina forward, who no more is a first-choice following the summer arrival of Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspur, could, however, get a start tomorrow at the cost of the Bulgarian star, who had a disappointing day against the Gunners and as a result the partnership with Wayne Rooney, who is stuck on 99 club goals, did not present any threat to the north-Londoners. Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo is also one short of a century of goals.

Twelfth-placed Potters, meanwhile, are in danger of a fierce backlash as defending champions United, who lost 2-1 to the Gunners last time, with their powerful attack could blow away the league new-entrants, who however arrive at the Theatre of Dreams with confidence after having picked up seven points from last possible nine and also tasted Cup win over Rotherham in midweek.

United defender Wes Brown should be back after his ankle problem, otherwise there are no injury concerns for Ferguson with Paul Scholes back in training and Owen Hargreaves ruled out for the rest of the season following knee operation.

Stoke boss Pulis, however, is sweating on the fitness of striker Mamady Sidibe, who has been out after suffering an ankle injury against Wigan.

The teams

Man United (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Foster, Neville, Brown, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans, Evra, O'Shea, Carrick, Ronaldo, Park, Fletcher, Anderson, Giggs, Nani, Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez.

Stoke (from): Sorensen, Griffin, Shawcross, Abdoulaye Faye, Higginbotham, Olofinjana, Amdy Faye, Diao, Delap, Sidibe, Fuller, Whelan, Cresswell, Kitson, Simonsen, Wilkinson, Cort, Tong, Pugh, Dickinson.