Ferguson justifies Saha selection for Man. United

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson hopes his decision to select Louis Saha for the League Cup final will help to keep the France international at Old Trafford.

Ferguson said that if he had overlooked Saha after his five previous goals in the competition, the striker might have considered his future with the Premier League club.

"If you don't play him in the final after scoring all those goals, he may say to himself, 'I can get a regular place somewhere else'," Ferguson said.

"When he is scoring goals of course he is putting pressure on. He's putting pressure on me. His form has been fantastic. He deserved to play in the final. That is definite."

Saha was preferred to leading scorer Ruud van Nistelrooy for Sunday's final against Wigan and vindicated the decision by scoring in the 4-0 victory as United won the trophy for only the second time.

Ferguson said it had not created a problem with Van Nistelrooy, who will be hoping for a re-call for today's league game at Wigan if he recovers fully from a stomach upset.

Meanwhile, midfielder Paul Scholes has been back at the training ground but is still not expected to play until next season because of a problem with his vision.