By Mark Heys
November 22 2007

Premiership holders Manchester United visit the Reebok Stadium this weekend to give Gary Megson his toughest Premiership assignment since taking over the reigns at Bolton Wanderers nearly one month ago.

United are in leathal form having lost just once in thirteen top flight matches whilst the Wanderers in contrast have only one victory to their name this season in the Premier League.

Fortunes have picked up slightly since ex-Leicester City and West Brom boss Megson took over at Bolton and the Mancunian is yet to be defeated in the league whilst in the Trotters hot seat.

Last season the Red Devils dished out two four goal hammerings when against  their local rivals en route to their first league title since the 2002-2003 season but they will be wary of what Bolton have done to them in the past, most notably back to back wins at Old Trafford in 2001 and 2002.

The Wanderers have also drawn against Sir Alex Ferguson's men at the Reebok in 2003 and 2004 so a decent result for the hosts, despite going against the odds, would help to lift some of the gloom which has hung over the club since the departure of Sam Allardyce in April.

Both sides have injury worries but the treatment table seems to have cleared much quicker at Bolton than it has at United despite the midweek international games.

Star striker Nicolas Anelka will play some part for Wanderers after appearing for France last week and El-Hadji Diouf could also return following an ankle injury and one match ban.

Defenders Joey O'Brien and Nicky Hunt are on their way back from hamstring and shoulder problems whilst forwards Heidar Helguson and Ricardo Vaz-Te look to be involved in the squad for the first time since the opening weeks of the season.

Swiss international Blerim Dzemaili is the only long term absentee with the former FC Zurich captain expected to be back in action in and around the New Year games.

United chief Sir Alex Ferguson will be without Wayne Rooney (ankle) and Paul Scholes (knee) but veteran full back Gary Neville could make a return following a spell out with a calf injury.

Nemanja Vidic and Carlos Tevez will face a race against time to make the game due to commitments their respective countries just hours before the Reebok showdown.

Park Ji Sung, Ben Foster and Mikael Silvestre will play no part in any of United's games for the rest of this year but they are expected to return to action in the Spring.

LAST TIME WE MET:

17/03/2007 MANCHESTER UNITED 4 (Park 2, Rooney 2) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Speed (pen))

BOLTON: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Abdoulaye Faye, Abdoulaye Meite, Tal Ben-Haim, Kevin Nolan, Ivan Campo (David Thompson), Gary Speed, Kevin Davies (Andranik Teimourian), Nicolas Anelka, Henrik Pedersen (El-Hadji Diouf)

SUBS NOT USED: Stelios Giannakopoulos, Ian Walker (GK)

UNITED: Tomasz Kuszczak, Gary Neville (Wes Brown), Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Gabriel Heinze, Park Ji Sung, Michael Carrick, John O'Shea, Ryan Giggs (Kieran Richardson), Cristiano Ronaldo (Alan Smith), Wayne Rooney

SUBS NOT USED: Patrice Evra, Tom Heaton (GK)

PLAYED FOR BOTH:

John Ball, Peter Barnes, Peter Beardsley, Wyn Davies, Tony Dunne, Quinton Fortune, Alan Gowling, Brian Kidd, Harry McShane, Willie Morgan, John O’Kane, Bill Wrigglesworth

DID YOU KNOW:

Henrik Pedersen's final appearance for Bolton Wanderers came when these two sides last met. The long serving Danish player was subbed by then manager Sam Allardyce after only half an hour as the decision to revert him back to his normal striker role wasn't working.

United have scored four goals in games against Bolton in five meetings since the Trotters returned to the Premiership in 2001. These have occured twice last season, January 2002, August 2003 and December 2005.

Current first team players Kevin Davies and Stelios Giannakopoulos both made their Wanderers bow against United in 2003. Another debutant in that game was United's Cristiano Ronaldo.

Last season South African international Quinton Fortune was the first player to move between Bolton and United since Paul Wheatcroft in 2000.