GARETH Farrelly will be a man with a mission if he gets the all clear to kick-start his season at the Reebok tonight.

The Wanderers' midfielder, who has figured in only two of the nine Premiership games to date, is pencilled in for a reserve team outing to gauge his recovery from a thigh problem and to assess his match fitness.

A favourable outcome could put him in the reckoning for Saturday's daunting derby clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford and would certainly see him seriously challenging for a place on Saturday week when Wanderers travel to Aston Villa, his former club.

"We're looking to get Gareth out in the reserves," Sam Allardyce confirmed as he looked forward to putting the Republic of Ireland international to the test. "That's important to us at the moment."

Impressive

The manager has also hinted that Per Frandsen, who has featured in only two of the last seven games because of an ankle problem, could also be back in the reckoning, describing the Dane as "very close indeed".

Farrelly, who was impressive when he made a belated start to the season as substitute in the dramatic victory over Liverpool on August 27 and influential when Wanderers followed up with a scoreless draw at Leeds, aggravated his thigh injury in the Worthington Cup win against Walsall. He confessed that an intricate "back-heel" was to blame for putting him back on the sidelines and vowed not to try such fancy footwork again!

Allardyce, who is understood to be considering changes in the wake of the three successive home defeats that have seen Wanderers slip from top to ninth in the Premiership, is anxious to have his strongest possible squad available for the Old Trafford derby and the Villa Park game and Frandsen and Farrelly would offer him valuable experience and expertise which has been missing in recent weeks

The news is not so good, however, for Frandsen's countryman Henrik Pedersen, who has not figured since the draw at Arsenal and could face a lengthy lay-off with a groin problem.