PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue: Old Trafford Date: Saturday, 21 February Kick-off: 1730 GMT
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Wayne Rooney will start for Manchester United after completing his recovery from a hamstring problem.
Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher and Rafael are also set to feature, but defender John O'Shea is a minor doubt with a heel injury.
Blackburn defender Chris Samba is suspended for the game after picking up five yellow cards this season.
Rovers' on-loan United right-back Danny Simpson is ineligible to play against his parent club.
Man Utd (from): Van der Sar, Foster, Kuszczak, O'Shea, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick, Gibson, Scholes, Giggs, Park, Fletcher, Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez, Welbeck.
Blackburn (from): Robinson, Bunn, Ooijer, Khizanishvili, Nelsen, Warnock, Givet, Olsson, Dunn, Villanueva, Grella, Tugay, Andrews, Diouf, Pedersen, Treacy, Mokoena, Haworth, Santa Cruz, McCarthy, Roberts.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson:
"Wayne Rooney will play. He has to start so we can see how far advanced he is but we think he's fine.
(On the prospect of extending their Premier League lead to eight points) "We never get carried away. If we do the likelihood is that we'll get kicked in the teeth.
"We have to focus on what we are doing and make sure we can go the distance."
Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce:
"Nobody in the footballing world expects us to do anything so we've got less pressure on us.
Allardyce hopes for Man Utd 'off day'
"With the impregnable back line and the form they're in it's going to be tough.
"I hope we break their clean sheet record, but I'd sooner go and hope to come off with a 0-0 because at least we'd got something out of the game."
Manchester United go into the weekend five points clear at the top of the Premier League table, after cruising to a 3-0 home victory over Fulham on Wednesday night. They have a superior goal difference over second placed Liverpool of nine, lead Aston Villa by eight points, Chelsea by 10 and Arsenal by 15. An 11th Premier League title is theirs to lose.
Blackburn go into this game one point off the foot of the table, without any away league goal since November and without an away top-flight victory since September.
United, the World Club champions, Carling Cup finalists, FA Cup quarter-finals and defending Champions League and Premier League champions, have kept 14 successive clean sheets in the league.
Goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar has not seen a goal go past him in 1,302 Premier League minutes. If he lasts into the 89th minute against Blackburn, he will break Danny Verlinden's European league record. The Club Bruges last line of defence kept the opposition at bay for 1,390 minutes between 3 March and 26 September 1990 in the Belgium League.
According to the Fifa-approved International Federation of Football History and Statistics, Van der Sar's current achievement places him sixth in the table of the longest time without conceding a goal in world league football. The world record is 1,816 minutes by Mazaropi of Vasco da Gama from 18 May 1977 to 7 September 1978. It will take Van der Sar another five matches plus the first 65 minutes of the away game against Sunderland on 11 April to pass Mazaropi's mark.
Blackburn have dropped more away points to Manchester United than to any other club in the Premier League (36).
Distance between the clubs: 27 miles (43 kilometres)
Blackburn are making the shortest journey of any Premier League club this weekend.
MANCHESTER UNITED
1st 59 points
Highest achievable after Saturday's matches: 1st
Lowest could fall: 1st
1. Won all but one of the last 16, losing just one of 25.
2. Won the last nine Premier League matches, against Stoke (a), Middlesbrough (h), Chelsea (h), Wigan (h), Bolton (a), West Brom (a), Everton (h), West Ham (a) and Fulham (h).
3. Unbeaten in 14 league games; won 12 and drawn two since losing 2-1 away to Arsenal on 8 November - their only loss in 22 top-flight outings.
4. One defeat short of 150 in league football under Sir Alex Ferguson.
5. One point up on their points total to this same stage last season, and two points down on the corresponding juncture in the previous year (both title-winning campaigns).
6. Scored in each of the last nine league games. Failed to score in one of 12 (0-0 away to Tottenham on 13 December), and missed the target in only two Premier League matches all season; the other being 0-0, away to Villa on 22 November.
7 Not conceded in 21 hours 42 minutes of Premier League football since Samir Nasri scored Arsenal's second in the Gunners' odd goal in three home victory on 8 November. Boast the tightest defence in the Premier League. More details
8 Challenging for a 12th consecutive home league victory; conceded goals in just one of the last 11 victorious league matches at Old Trafford (4-3 v Hull on 1 November), and undefeated in 17, a sequence stretching back over a year. Won 16 and drawn one (v Newcastle) since losing 1-2 against Manchester City on 10 February 2008 - their only defeat in 31 at home.
9 Won the last four Premier League games against North-West clubs by 1-0 scorelines, and lost only one top-flight North-West derby this season; 2-1, away to Liverpool on 13 September.
10. This match precedes the Champions League tie, away to Inter Milan on Tuesday.
BLACKBURN ROVERS
18th 23 points
Highest achievable after Saturday's matches: 16th
Lowest could fall: 19th
1. Won one of six in all competitions; 2-1, home to Sunderland in a FA Cup fourth round replay on 4 February.
2. Won one of six Premier League games since Christmas; 3-0, home to Newcastle on 17 January.
3. In danger of suffering their first back-to-back defeats under Sam Allardyce, and first in eight Premier League outings since tumbling to six on the bounce between 9 November to 13 December.
4. Averaging less than a point a game; 23 points after 24 games is 15 points down on last season, and their lowest corresponding return ever in the Premier League.
5. Drawn their last two away league games 0-0, and not won in eight on the road; drawn four and lost four since beating Newcastle 1-2 at St James' Park on 27 September - the second of their two away wins this season.
6. Lost all four Premier League games this season against the 'Big Four' clubs; Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.
7. Not won in 15 league games against the 'Big Four'; picked up four points out of 45 since a 1-0 home victory over Liverpool on Boxing Day 2006.
8. Drawn their last two league games against North-West clubs, and not won in six. The odd goal in five victory, away to Everton on the opening day of the season, 16 August, was their most recent victory in a North-West league derby.
9. An FA Cup fifth round replay away to Championship club Coventry follows this, on Tuesday.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Edwin VAN DER SAR is leading the race for the Barclays Golden Glove with 18 clean sheets.
Carlos TEVEZ has scored five goals in his last two starts against Blackburn (Premier League and Carling Cup).
Ryan GIGGS is a hat-trick shy of 150 goals for Manchester United.
Paul SCHOLES needs a hat-trick to reach 100 Premier League goals - all for United.
If on the field from the outset:-
VAN DER SAR will be making his 250th Premier League start.
BLACKBURN ROVERS
David DUNN is a double shy of 50 club career goals.
If selected:-
Brett EMERTON will be playing on the eve of his 30th birthday.
Suspended:-
Christopher SAMBA (one match)
Danny SIMPSON is on loan from Manchester United and therefore ineligible to play.
Manchester United won the last game against Blackburn 5-3, in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup on 3 December, when Carlos Tevez bagged a four-timer.
Blackburn have won only once in 21 league and cup visits to the Theatre of Dreams since 1963.
The Red Devils are on course to do the double over Blackburn for the fifth time in the Premier League.
Home and away
League (inc PL): Man United 41 wins, Blackburn 27, Draws 23
Prem: Man United 16 wins, Blackburn 5, Draws 8
at Man United only
League (inc PL): Man United 25 wins, Blackburn 9, Draws 11
Prem: Man United 10 wins, Blackburn 1, Draws 3
Manchester United 2-0 Blackburn Rovers
11 November 2007 - Ref: Chris Foy
Man Utd scorers: Ronaldo 34, 35
Sent Off: Dunn (Blackburn) 53
Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Manchester United
4 October 2008 - Ref: Steve Bennett
Man Utd scorers: Brown 31, Rooney 64
