Mikael Silvestre will make his first appearance after returning from knee ligament damage, lining up alongside fellow veteran defender Gary Neville for the Reserves on Thursday.

The duo will start against Manchester City at the Marston's Arena as they bid to regain match fitness after long, injury-enforced absences.

While Neville has made a handful of Reserves appearances of late, Silvestre has not been in competitive action since suffering his injury at Everton last September.

They join the likes of Danny Simpson, Chris Eagles and Danny Welbeck in a strong Reserves side, who will be looking to bounce back from last week's defeat at Sunderland.

The match kicks off at 19:00 GMT, and will be shown live on MUTV.

United squad: Heaton, Zieler; Neville, Simpson, Chester, Silvestre, Eckersley, Lea; Gray, Hewson, Possebon, Barnes, Cleverley; Eagles, Welbeck.