England skipper David Beckham was a shock absentee from the Manchester United line-up to face Liverpool at Old Trafford this afternoon.
Beckham is named among the substitutes for the crunch Premiership clash, with rumours circulating that he had been suffering from a touch of flu over the past few days.
With Tuesday's vital Champions League trip to Real Madrid in mind, plus the visits to Newcastle and Arsenal which follow, manager Sir Alex Ferguson was clearly not prepared to take any chances with his star midfielder, who he claimed today would not be sold despite reported interest from Inter Milan and Real themselves.
Beckham is joined on the bench by international team-mate Nicky Butt, with Phil Neville, who is suspended for next week's game, joins skipper Roy Keane in midfield.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer takes Beckham's right-sided midfield berth for a match United needed to win to return to the top of the table, even if Arsenal could bounce straight above them with a similar result at Aston Villa.
With only one win from their last eight meetings with today's visitors, United's recent record is in drastic need of improvement.
However, they did receive a boost when Michael Owen failed to overcome the back problem which forced him out of England's midweek win over Turkey.
Milan Baros was named in attack by Gerard Houllier, whose side won the Worthington Cup final at United's expense at the beginning of last month.