Few stand up to Sir Alex Ferguson and escape unscathed. Crossing swords with Sam Allardyce can be scary, too. Only the exceptionally brave or extremely foolhardy take on two of the biggest personalities the game can offer.

Michael Owen could be forgiven for feeling the occasional pang of jealousy towards Wayne Rooney, but the one-time golden boy of English football had nothing but praise last night for the “local scally made good” and the present bearer of that particular crown.

Team news and squad sheets for the midweek games will appear below as soon as the managers have posted them around the country. In the meantime, watch our video previews above.

Michael Owen says he has all but given up hope of being involved in this summer's World Cup finals.

SIR ALEX FERGUSON sent out a message to rival teams and to Wayne Rooney himself last night when he said that his in-form striker had yet to “get to the levels of [Ole Gunnar] Solskjaer and Andy Cole and [Ruud] Van Nistelrooy. If he got to that level, he’d be the best in the world”.

Chelsea continued their 100 per cent Premier League record against Wolves, with a 2-0 victory at Molineux. Didier Drogba's double enabled Chelsea to move four points clear of Manchester United at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

David Moyes, the Everton manager, has revealed how a phone call from an apologetic Wayne Rooney helped to convince him that his one-time protégé had reached the level of maturity required of a world-class performer.

Nemanja Vidic insists he is as committed as ever to Manchester United, despite mounting speculation that he will leave Old Trafford in the summer.

Wolverhampton Wanderers have incurred the wrath of the Premier League for fielding an understrength side against Manchester United last December.

One Manchester United striker continues to go from strength to strength, but another must be wondering in which direction his Old Trafford career is headed.

There has always been something magnificently ordinary about Wayne Rooney. There are the trappings of superstardom, but none of the affectations. There is the flair of the prima donna, but none of the ego. There is confidence, but never arrogance.

David Beckham has described Wayne Rooney as one of the greatest goalscorers in the world as Manchester United came from behind to secure a memorable 3-2 victory over AC Milan at San Siro last night.

They pride themselves on extending a player’s career at AC Milan’s famous laboratory but we know now that they cannot perform anti-ageing miracles. And so a team that began at a sprint slowed to a gasping stagger in the second half last night.

Wayne Rooney tore into his team-mates last night after upstaging David Beckham as Manchester United came from behind to secure a memorable 3-2 victory over AC Milan at a spellbound San Siro.

There have been times when it has riled Sir Alex Ferguson to see Wayne Rooney receive the kind of adulation that turned David Beckham into a national treasure, but not this morning. Not after a night when Rooney led the fightback that turned a chastening evening at San Siro into one of exuberant celebration for Manchester United.

Wayne Rooney was exploited at the start of his career by agents who tied him in to a contract so long it spanned the average working life of a professional player, a court was told on Tuesday.