MAN United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is ready to give his fringe players a chance in the first team.
The festive programme has forced teams to play four matches in 10 days and Ferguson, like many others, has had to spread the workload.
He left Cristiano Ronaldo, Gabriel Heinze and Louis Saha on the bench for the 3-1 Boxing Day victory over Wigan, and though Ronaldo came on to score twice - Heinze also made an appearance - Saha was unused.
Ferguson said: "We are coming to the part of the season where we have to utilise the squad and I need to show some of the players who haven't been in the team regularly that I have confidence in them, that I trust them," he said.
"I want them to feel they made a contribution. I need them to have minutes on the clock." Manchester United and Chelsea are being lined up for an end-of-season live title showdown.
United are scheduled to visit Stamford Bridge on Saturday, April 14. That is also FA Cup semi-finals day, when one or both could be involved.
The league game would then be postponed until the final week of the season - with May 8 or 9 likely dates.
Sky are already looking at the possibilities of rearranging fixtures.
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