Ander Herrera could be set to make his Manchester United comeback against Stoke on New Year's Day.
Herrera has sat out United's past three games with a muscle injury but manager Louis van Gaal believes the midfielder may be able to feature at the Britannia Stadium on Thursday.
Van Gaal delivered a further injury boost for United by declaring that the three players he took off in Sunday's 0-0 draw at Tottenham will not be sidelined.
Antonio Valencia was replaced at half-time while both Paddy McNair and Jonny Evans came off in the final 20 minutes, but the United boss told MUTV: "I made the changes because of tiredness, not because players weren't playing well. I had to make changes, and could have made more because the strikers were on their last legs.
"The players were tired because we've had to play twice in 48 hours. It's scientifically proven that the body can't recover within two days, and we've seen the effects of that today."
United, who have had a long casualty list all season, were without five players at White Hart Lane.
Van Gaal explained: "We still have four injuries, and Marouane Fellaini is ill. Angel Di Maria, Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo and Ander Herrera are currently out."
However, he added: "Ander will be coming back this week."
Herrera, who signed from Athletic Bilbao in June for 28.8 million pounds, has only started one of United's last 12 games.
Two players made their comebacks at Spurs with Chris Smalling, who had not featured since the 2-1 win at Southampton, and Luke Shaw, who was hurt in November's 2-0 victory at Arsenal, both coming off the bench.
United were frustrated to draw with Tottenham and defender Phil Jones told MUTV: "We created numerous chances in the first half and perhaps should have been three or four nil up at half-time, but it wasn't to be."