David Moyes has insisted that he was well within his rights to play Wayne Rooney for Manchester United just four days after he was deemed unfit to represent England on international duty.

The 27-year-old wore protective head gear to shield a gash that had prevented him from playing for the Three Lions against Ukraine on Tuesday and scored in United's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Rooney was expected to miss the visit of the Eagles, but Moyes has stressed that he was only made available to feature on Friday after the arrival of his protective headband.

"It was a difficult decision," Moyes told reporters. "We were going to see how he felt with it, but until Friday we hadn't even got it. In my mind he's been training great, so I felt that if he could wear it then we would try and get him out [for Saturday's game].

"Because of his lack of match practice, I felt if I could get him 90 minutes it would go a long way towards the overall goal of getting him match sharpness and match fitness.

"He looks fine. He went for a couple of headers as well with it. It looked as if he didn't feel any problem protecting it, but as I'm sure you've all seen, it's a really bad cut he had."

In a similar situation, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has received criticism for announcing the fitness of Daniel Sturridge for Monday's game at Swansea City, despite the forward missing England's World Cup qualifiers with a thigh strain.