As both Manchester United and Chelsea will be at full strength for the Champions League final, eurosport.yahoo.co.uk examines which players are likely to be given the nod to start.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Chelsea counterpart Avram Grant have both expressed their dismay at having to trim their squads down to the requisite 18 for the final, meaning a host of fringe players will be forced to watch from the stands.

And once the squad has been selected, the next task is the tricky business of picking the team.

Chelsea's first XI is the more obvious of the two, with Grant guaranteed to select a 4-3-3 with a narrow midfield trio supporting a front three of two wide players and a single striker.

Didier Drogba will be that lone forward, with support probably coming from Joe Cole and either Salomon Kalou or Florent Malouda on the flanks.

Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack will start in midfield with Claude Makelele getting the nod ahead of John Obi Mikel in the anchor role, meaning Michael Essien could start at right-back alongside John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Ashley Cole, who is expected to recover from a minor ankle injury.

United's back four picks itself, but further forward Sir Alex Ferguson faces a huge dilemma.

Does he go in all guns blazing and pick a front three of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez? Or does he leave out the in-form Tevez for an additional midfielder, probably Owen Hargreaves?

Given Chelsea's strength in the middle, the latter option appears more likely, meaning Hargreaves will operate with Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes.

Although Tevez performed the lone striker role with distinction against Barcelona at Old Trafford, it is inconceivable that he would get the nod ahead of Rooney, while Ronaldo will perform his usual roaming role - nominally from the right wing.

There will be no fairytale start for Ryan Giggs, who could break Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time appearances record for United, with the hardworking Park Ji-Sung likely to play on the left.

There is competition raging for a place alongside Giggs on the bench between Anderson, Nani, Darren Fletcher and Louis Saha, two of whom are likely to miss out.

United (probable): Van der Sar; Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra; Hargreaves, Scholes, Carrick; Park, Ronaldo, Rooney

Chelsea (probable): Cech; Essien, Terry, Carvalho, A. Cole; Makelele, Lampard, Ballack; J. Cole, Drogba, Malouda

Tom Williams / Eurosport