Edwin van der Sar will make his final Premier League appearance for Manchester United against Blackpool.
United goalkeeper ready to bow out at Old Trafford
Edwin van der Sar will make his final Premier League appearance for Manchester United against Blackpool after Sir Alex Ferguson reiterated he will pick a strong team.
Dutch goalkeeper Van der Sar was rested for last week's 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers which secured United a record-breaking 19th top-flight title.
Van der Sar is retiring at the end of the season and will be drafted back into the team for Sunday's game against relegation-threatened Blackpool at Old Trafford.
The 40-year-old's last appearance is set to be the following weekend's UEFA Champions League final against Barcelona and Ferguson is planning to freshen up his team to face Blackpool.
However, Ferguson has moved to reassure the Seasiders' relegation rivals by insisting he will not pick an under-strength team after outlining the players he expects to be involved.
"I have players who need a game," said Ferguson.
"Darren Fletcher, Paul Scholes, Anderson, Dimitar Berbatov, Patrice Evra and Edwin van der Sar will play."
Criticised
Blackpool boss Ian Holloway has already been scathing about the threat of a fine being dangled over Ferguson should he field a weakened team on Sunday.
The United manager is not bothered about that and he only has a problem if his team loses, which he does not intend to happen.
"You should be criticised if you lose a game that affects other teams," said Ferguson.
"I remember we played Hull a couple of years ago and played a lot of young players but we won the game 1-0.
"For some reason the previous year, Neil Warnock found it easy to criticise us for losing to West Ham. But if he had seen the game we battered them, so it was a bit unfair."
