Alex Ferguson kept faith with Rio Ferdinand as Manchester United sought to go top of the Premiership against Tottenham this afternoon.
Ferdinand was given an eight-month ban on Friday for his failure to take a drugs test and it was not clear he would be in the right frame of mind to play at White Hart Lane.
But the £30million defender took his place in the starting line-up as United aimed to take over from Arsenal at the top of the table.
"He's had gruelling week," Ferguson said. "Yesterday in training I had a good look at him and I spoke to him. He wanted to play. He's got a good temperament and he is a good player. Hopefully he's going to be all right."
Ferdinand's ban is due to start on January 12th, although United have indicated they will appeal against the punishment.
Tottenham: Keller, Carr, Taricco, Gardner, Richards, Anderton, Dalmat, King, Konchesky, Kanoute, Keane. Subs: Hirschfeld, Postiga, Doherty, Poyet, Ricketts.
Man Utd: Howard, G Neville, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Fletcher, Keane, P Neville, Giggs, van Nistelrooy, Scholes. Subs: Ronaldo, Butt, Carroll, Forlan, Fortune.
Referee: R Styles (Hampshire)