The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £50million investment will be split between building all-weather pitches and coaching on the recommendation of the Football Association at the opening of Manchester City’s state-of-the-art facility.

Manager Keith Hill could only name five players on the bench for the second round tie, with three members of his team succumbing to a virus the evening prior to the game.

United manager Louis van Gaal has again been promised another vast transfer budget to continue re-shaping his United squad, on top of the £150million spent in the last window.

The Scotsman, who is going into his third game in charge of the Latics, made over 200 appearances for Norwich City between 1998 and 2004.

Bolton will be hoping to continue their recent resurgence which saw them go the whole of November unbeaten and rise to three points clear of the relegation zone in 18th.

The Icelandic record goalscorer, who left the club 14 years ago, had been training with Wanderers following his release by Club Brugge.

After Man Utd’s victory over Hull, manager Louis van Gaal, who has managed some of Europe’s most prestigious clubs in the form of Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, bemoaned the fact that the Reds have to play over Christmas.

The 20-times league champions dispatched the Tigers 3-0 at Old Trafford on Saturday, maintaining their place in the top four and extending their winning streak to three games.

Bolton’s Saturday clash with Huddersfield Town begins a run of six games in the space of 30 days across advent and the Christmas period.

Despite being stuck in the Championship relegation zone, Wigan managed to draw against third-placed Middlesbrough last week and they will travel to south Yorkshire with a similar plan in mind.

Icelander Gudjohnsen has been training with Wanderers for the best part of November since leaving Club Brugge in the summer and there have been plenty of hints that he could rejoin his former side.