Wayne Rooney is losing his race to be fit for Manchester United’s final home match of the Barclays Premier League campaign, against West Ham United. The England forward had hoped to recover from a hip injury in time for tomorrow’s match at Old Trafford, but he was unable to train yesterday and will play no part unless he shows a dramatic improvement today.

The injury, which he suffered in a collision with Ryan Nelsen, the Blackburn Rovers defender, on April 19, was not thought to be serious at first, but he aggravated the problem by playing in United’s next two matches, against Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at the Nou Camp and Chelsea in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge. Although Rooney’s participation in the Champions League final against Chelsea on May 21 is not thought to be in doubt, Rooney may have little involvement as United look to secure a second successive domestic title.

Edwin van der Sar, the goalkeeper, has also raised concerns at Old Trafford by confessing that he is feeling “completely wrecked”. The 37-year-old has barely trained in recent weeks because of a persistent groin injury and, although he hopes to play tomorrow and away to Wigan Athletic eight days later, he will not complain if Sir Alex Ferguson prefers Tomasz Kuszczak or Ben Foster for one of the matches.

The United manager also has a worry over Owen Hargreaves, who has been carrying knee and hamstring problems in recent weeks, but Nemanja Vidic, who missed the 1-0 victory over Barcelona on Tuesday with a face injury, is expected to be declared fit to play against West Ham.